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MEMOIR 


OF 

CAPTAIN \Y. THORNTON BATE, R.N. 



By the same Author 


ST. AUGUSTINE: a Biographical Memoir. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece, 5s. 

[,Just ready. 

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Portrait, 5s.; Cheap Edition, Is. 6d. 

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of the Judsons and of tlieir Fellow-Labourers. Second Thousand , crown 8vo. with 
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trait, 5s. 

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James Montgomery, Perthes, and Mrs. Winslow. Third Thousand, crown 8vo. 
with Engravings, 5s. 

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Edition, 8vo. Frontispiece, 2s.; Cheap Edition, Is. 

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Edited by the same. 

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same. 

The HEAVENLY LIFE : Select Writings of Adelaide L. Newton. New 
Edition, crown 8vo. 5s. Edited by the same. 









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A 


MEMOIB 

OF 

CAPTAIN W. THORNTON BATE, R.N. 


BY 

THE REV. JOHN BAILLIE, 

GONV. AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBEIDGE: 
Author of ‘ Memoirs of Heivitson’ &c. 


“ Dost thou live, man; dost thou live,—or only breathe and labour ? ” 


'b 


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C LONDON: 

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS. 


1859 



















LONDON 

F1UNTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO 
NEW-SLKEET SQUABE. 






TO 


JOHN LABOUCHEEE, ESQUIEE 

OF BROOME HALL. 


My dear Sir, 

It gives me great pleasure to inscribe this volume to 
you. You know what it. is to seek to glorify God amidst the 
turmoil and harassments of contact with men in daily life; and 
you will be able to appreciate the trial and triumph of faith 
recorded in these pages. The last occasion on which the brave 
man spoke to his ship’s-company—two days before his death,— 
he urged earnestly and affectionately upon them these words : 
“Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” 
It was an epitome of his own brief but not inglorious life. 
And, now that he has left us, does not he seem, each moment, to 
whisper down into our ear — 

“ Watch, watch the hour-glass of Time with the eyes 
of an heir of Immortality ? ” 

May we have grace to follow him as he followed Christ — man¬ 
fully and meekly fighting out life’s great battle, and looking for 
“ that day ” when each overcomer shall have his crown ! 

Uniting with you cordially in this desire, I remain, 

Most truly yours, 

THE AUTHOR. 




In the pettiness of life, note thou seeds of grandeur.” 


PREFATORY NOTE. 


The object of this Memoir is to show, by a living 
example, how a man may combine first-rate attainments 
in his calling with the brightest graces of the Christian 
life. Hedley Vicars and Havelock were not less brave 
soldiers because they were not ashamed to confess Christ. 
And it will be seen in these pages, how a sailor may 
unite to professional capacity and to personal valour, the 
meek and devoted service of a disciple of the Cross. 
To young men especially the book is commended, in 
the hope that it may stimulate some lagging steps and 
encourage some fainting hearts. 

The engravings (except the last) are from originals 
sketched by Captain Bate. The portrait is from a 
photograph taken just previous to his last departure 
from England. 

Any profits arising from the present edition will be 
given to aid the Mission-work in China and in Japan. 

Brook Street , London : 

December 10, 1858. 





CONTENTS 


CHAPTERL 

A Scene in the Atlantic. — The Child. — Characteristics. — A 
Parallel. — “ Taking a Survey.” — The Cannon. — “ Making 
Experiments.” — Boarding-school.— The Eootpads.—The Prayer 
and the Egg. — Naval College.—Jokes and “No Jokes.” — 
“ A Pickle.” —Birch Law. — Collegians and Sailors. — Life in 
earnest.—First Home afloat. — “ John-Bull-looking Fellow.” — 
Coast of Africa. — Hazardous Adventure. — Generous Heart. — 
“ A Man overboard.” — Noble Deed. — The “ Mids.”—“ Sailing 
Excursion.” — The “Silver Watch.” — The Middy’s Desk.— 
“ Curios.” — “ Salt junk.”— “ On Duty.”—“ Every inch a Sailor.” 
— A Stroke. — The Orphan. — Turning-Point. — Another 
Father ------ Page 5 


CHAPTER II. 

A Parallel. — “ Man’s Chief End.” — The Cross. — Christ only. — 
The Cadet’s arrival in England. — A Fellowship. — Decision 
for God. — Chinese War. — Mate of the Blenheim. — Church in 
the Ship. — The Prayer-meeting. —The “ Blue-lights.”— “ Swear 
not at all.” — Assault on Canton. — The Breach. —Wounded. — 
Hair’s-breadth Escape. — “ Not yet ” - - 19 



X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER III. 

An Instinct and a Grace. — Nelson, Leonidas, Havelock. — 
Pleasing God. — Growing in Grace. —The Survey.— “ Natures ” 
and “ Vocations.” — The War. —An Adventure. — Critical Po¬ 
sition.— An old Fellowship.—A Blue-button Mandarin.— Hand- 
to-hand Fight. — Capture. — Gallant Feat. — Generosity. — 
“ Charmed Life.” — Flag of Truce. — Close of the War Page 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

Heavenly Discipline.—Survey.—Privations.—Seamanship—Hidden 
Life.—“Alone, alone.”—Growing Holiness.—Return to England. 
—Fresh Trial.—“An Oversight.”—Patience—Studies.—Wool¬ 
wich. — Portsmouth.—Excelsior.—Home-affections.—Promotion. 
—Royalist. — “A Wreck.” — Duty. —“ Toil on! ” - 37 


CHAPTER V. 

The Great Highway. —Eastern Archipelago. — Future Empire— 
Palawan.—Reefs. — “Most difficult Waters.” — Incessant La¬ 
bours. — Civilisation. — Survey. — Natives.— Dangerous Naviga¬ 
tion. — “ Stupendous Wall.” — Settlements. — Malays.—The Red 
Flag. — Visit to Chief. — “ Palace.” — Aborigines. — Contour of 
Country.—A Bivouac.—Peaks.—Station-pole. — Providences. — 
Coral Reef. — Vessel struck.—Serious Peril.—“ Terrific Bumps.” 
—Saved.— Hong-Kong.—A Meeting.—“ Enterprise.”—The Le¬ 
gend.— Secret of Peace.—“ Not by Bread alone ” - 47 

CHAPTER VI. 

Palawan. — The “Moving Island.” — “Coat of Mail.” — Native 
Characteristics. — Scenery. — A Vulture and Snake. — Village. 

— A Native Luxury. — Egg Hunting_“ Court-house.” —How 

they punish. — Retreat. — Handloom-Weaving. — The Craft. — 
“ Plunging.”— Sail-splitting. — Night-watch.—The Emblem. — 
Live upon Mercy. — An Escape.—A Retrospect_Thankful¬ 
ness.—“ An unprofitable Servant ” 63 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER VII. 

“ Give me to Drink.”—Small-pox onboard.—Unselfishness.—Illness. 

— Letter to a little Boy. — “ Not for Worlds.” — Now. — Sir Ed¬ 
ward Parry. — Prayer-union. — Motto.— Pirates.—Hair’s-breadth 
Escape.—“ Look Death in the face.”—A Reef.—Ship in Danger.— 
Lahuan. —Coal-Measure.— Survey.— Scene on Shore.— A Night 
in the Jungle.—“ Reciprocated Duties.”—Friendly Sympathies.— 

— A Christmas Effusion. — “A Patch on your Back.” — A 
“Father” ------ Page 73 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A Test.—Lord’s-day.—“A Delight.”—■Conflagration.—Catastrophe. 

— Natives. — Parleys.—“The Palace.”—Women—“Too much 
frightened.” — Malay Infant School. —Feast.—Survey.—Ilarass- 
ments. — Inner Life. — Preaching—“ Unworthy Instrument.”— 
Discipline on Board. — “ Captain of the Fort.” — “ Oh, God, how 
good ! ”—The Craft.—Ordered Home.—The Voyage.— Arrival. 

— Expectations. — Just Claims. — Neglect.— Not cast down. — 

“ Kindling Seeds.” — Reminiscence. — Ripening. — “ Radiant 
Crown ” - - - - - - 85 


CHAPTER IX. 

Way of Duty. — How to settle it. — The Bittern. — Setting out. — 
Last Glimpse. — Parting Words. —Intercession. —Coming Rest. 
— Consolations.—Adieu to England.— Voyage out. — Incidents 
on Board. — Gibraltar. — Alexandria. — Suez. — “ Man’s Chief 
End.” — Red Sea. — Aden. — “ One of St. Paul’s Men.”— Point 
de Galle.—Country Drive.— Penang.—Malacca.— Singapore.— 
Old Shipmate. — “ Best Gift.” •— Opium Traffic.— Captains and 
Shoals. — Hong-Kong. — Old Friends. — Loochoo Mission. — 
Chinese Characteristics.—German Missionary. —Takes command 
of Bittern - ------ 95 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER X. 

“ A Paltry Brig.”— “ Not Seaworthy.”—Energy. — Method of Dis¬ 
cipline.— The Gospel.— Daily Prayers_“ The Fellows happy.” 

— “Living Epistle.” — “A secret Brightness.” — Offenders.— 
Power’of Kindness.— Scene in Hospital.—Whampoa.—Chinese 
Play. — Obscenity. — Women. — Moral Degradation. — Dying 
Native. — A Murder. — Chinese Crew. — Incident on Shore. — 
Starved to Death.— The Cloud and the Silver Lining Page 111 

CHAPTER XI. 

Coming rest. — Stormy Passage. —Quiet Interval.— Friendships.— 
“ A Sunbeam.” — Converse. — “ Seasoned with Salt.” — Hedley 
Vicars. — Contrast.—Self-accusings.—“ A Lump of Sin.”—Gos¬ 
sipping. —“ Power of Money.”— Christ only. —“ A Marvel.”—A 
True Friend. — “ Can’t but listen.”— Peace-maker.— A Reproof. 

— Missions. — Courtesy. — A Rescue. — Love to Children. — 

“ Happy in his arms.” — “A Jewel seldom seen ” - 123 

CHAPTER XII. 

Type of British Sailor. — Feat of Seamanship. — Cruise in Canton 
River. — Field-culture. — “ Execution-ground.” — Dimensions.— 
Aceldama. — Revolting Spectacle.— Superstitions.—“ Oblation to 
the Moon.” — Night-scene.— Sailor drowned.—Coffin.— “ Thank 
God for Peace ! ” — Inundations.—Distress.—“Full of Christ.”— 
Money, Wine, and Women. — Missionary Hospitals. — Dr. Par¬ 
ker. — Dr. Hobson. — “ Exterminate.” — La Perouse. — Literarv 

* 

Examinations. —Degrees. — Intense Heat.—A Surprise.—Henry 
Martyn. — A Px-oblem. — Prophecy. — “ Blessed Hope.” — Its 
Sanctifying Power. — “Oh! for a harp! ” - - - 133 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A Parallel.—“Shady Side.” — Admiralty.— Injustice. — Ordered to 
Tartary. — A Refuge. — “ Closer than a Brother.” — “ Gorgon- 
visage.” — Neglect. — “ No Kiss.”— Acteeon.—Natives. —“ Dodg- 


CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


ing.” — Kidnapping. — Lord’s Day. — The “ Anglo-Saxon.” — 
Outrage. — Macao Roads.— Merchant Ships. — “ No Rate.”— 
Chinese Festivities. — Excessive Heat.—Rebels.—Setting out.—• 
Man’s Ways and God’s.—“ End of the Lord” - - Page 145 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Canton.—“ Must make fight first.”—A Lorcha Boarded.—Another. 

— The “Arrow.” — British Colours Hauled Down. — Twelve Pri¬ 
soners.— Reprisals. — Yeh.—Junk Burnt.—Forts Captured.— 
Demands. — Yeh’s Manifesto. — “Heads of Englishmen.”—Bom¬ 
bardment. — Night-reconnoitre. — Escape. — Glass Shattered. — 
The Breach.—“ Waving a flag.”—“ The sight left my eyes.”—Ad¬ 
miral’s Summons. — Rejoinder.— Fresh Hostilities.—Bogue Forts. 

— Command of River.—Native Proclamation.—“ Sweep out every 

Fragment.” — Conflagration. — Factories Destroyed. — Retreat. — 
Characteristic Incident - - - - - - -155 


CHAPTER XY. 

Secret Glimpses. — “ Consulate.”—Correspondence. — “ In tears,”— 
« My poor Gallant Bitterns.”—“Whip Addie.”—Warning.—Pro¬ 
clamation.—“ Our heads.”—Excessive Cold. —“ Organ-loft.”—A 
Shift. — Entrenchment.—Bible burnt. — Night-attacks.— Howling 
Wind.— Sympathies. — “ God has a reason.”—Land of Beulah.— 
“ The harbingers.”—Child-like Faith,—Longings.— Parallels.— 
“By thy love.”—Growing Attractiveness.—A Testimony.—Idio¬ 
syncrasy.— Breadth of Soul. —“ Greatest of virtues.”—An Aspi¬ 
ration - - - - - - - - - -167 


CHAPTER XVI. 

His Closing Year. — How begun. — Self-denying Duty. — “All my 
Springs in Thee.” — A Crisis. — Chinese Outrages. — A Tra¬ 
gedy. — Admiral’s Anxieties. — Council of War. — Bate’s Pro¬ 
posal.— Appointed to Macao fort. — Garrison. — Perilous En¬ 
terprise.— Glimpses. — Privations. — “A Night in the Trenches.” 




XIV 


CONTENTS. 


— Hair’s-breadth Escapes. —Providential Care. — Night-attacks. 

— Gingalls. — Rockets. — “A young Lady of forty-five.” — 

“ Bully me most frightfully.” — “A painted Savage.”—Eresli 
Attacks. — An Escape. — “Too conceited.” — A Broomstick.— 
Choice Dish. — The Missionary. — Daily Worship. — A Conver¬ 
sion. — “ My dear little Fellow.”— The Flag. —“ Stupid wooden 
Dolls”.Page 177 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Gleam of Sunshine. — Promotion. — Congratulations. — Round- 
Robin.— His one Aim. — Not a Stoic. — “Top of the Tree.” — 
“ No more Begging and Hunting.” — Secret of his Popularity. 
—Two kinds of Praise. — “A Fragrant Perfume.” — Unselfish¬ 
ness.— Glimpses. — Night Attacks. — “Subtle Enemy.” — Priva¬ 
tions.— Consolations. — Fatherly Discipline.— Quitting the Fort. 
—A Soul saved - -- -- -- - 189 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

A Lull.—Indian Mutiny.—War Suspended.—New Errand.—House 
of Mourning.— A Grave.— “ Tears of Sympathy.”— Forecasting. 
“ World of Spirits.” — The Admiral_Testimony_An Emer¬ 

gency. — “ Transit.” — Total Wreck. — “ Public Auction.” — 
“Gipsy Life.” — Actseon. — Takes the Command.—Wanted.— 
Interval. — Glimpses. — A Rescue.— “ Be Instant.”—“Prayed 
with them.”— Conversation. — “ God’s All-Sufficiency.” — Self 
Accusings. — “ Thro’ much Tribulation.”—Who is Happiest? — 
Christ’s Daily Cross. — Its Purpose. — “ Victorious Trial.” — 
Heavenly Teachings.—“Holy Light.”—“ Eyes Indeed ” - 203 


CHAPTER XIX. 

A Parallel.—“Asking Advice of God.” — Hostilities resumed.— 

Last Sunday on Shore.— Presentiment—“ Sacrament again ? ”_ 

“ Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”— His Papers. — Private Cabin. — 
Bible Study. — -Esthetic Gift. — “ Scripture Promises.” — Two 


CONTENTS. 


XV 

Texts.—Word in Season. — Fervent in Spirit.— A Reminiscence. 
—“ Last Sermon.”—“ Not Slothful in Business.”— Capacity for 
Affairs.—“Leads the Advance.”—“Grand Conference.”—“Of 
the Lord.” — Ultimatum. — Yeh.—“Eat Gold Dust.” — “Our 
Allies.”—An Honour.— Mandarin.— “Aspen Leaf.” — Scene in 
Cabin.— “Illustrated News.” — A Request. — “ Sufficient for the 
Day.”—“ A Good Time Coming” - Page 213 


CHAPTER XX. 

A Longing. — “ Live to Christ! ” — Canton-River. — A Death. — 
“ Far happier.” — Crisis at Hand. — Floating Suburb. — “ Pack- 
houses.” — A Barrack. — “ Clearing out.” — A Reconnoissance. 
— Mapping. — Scene on Heights. —“That Bastion! ” — Plan 
of Assault. — Proclamation. — Day of Rest. — Last Sunday. —- 
Harassing Labours. — “ If I am spared.” — “Unto my God.”— 
Bitter Pang. — “No Doubts, no Fears! ”— Farewell Words. — 
“ My Pluck.” — A Contrast. —Coolness under Fire. — “ Shield of 
Adamant.” — The Middy. — Fatherliness. — “ Turning-point of 
my Life.”—Altar-Coal.—“Thy lips” - 225 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Storming of the City. — “Boom, Boom!” — Last Letter.—The 
Cabin. — A Psalm.— “For our comfort.” — “No evil befal 
thee.” — Landing. —Reconnoitring Party. — “Such a night!” 
— Shells. — Conflagration. — Last Bivouac. — The Coxswain. — 
“Captain’s knapsack.” — “Both kneeling.”—The Advance.— 
A Village. — Council of War.—The “Forlorn Hope.” —“ Who 
shall go?”—A Volunteer.—The Death-Shot.—“With his 
Lord.”—“Martyr-Soldier” - 235 


3Eu JHcmnrtam. 

“Too high a price.” — The Admiral.—A Great Calamity.— 
“ Faltering tongues.” — “ Swimming Eyes.”— “ Christian Hero.” 
_The Middy. — The Fatal Spot. — The Corpse. — Heavenly 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


Halo. — “ Peace within.” — A Contrast. — “ Malignant hatred.” 

— The “Happy Valley.”—Ruined Chapel.—The Burial.— 
“Sailor’s Pall.”—“A Heaven open.”—A Type.—“Not un¬ 
manly tears.” — “How they loved him!” — “All Hong-Kong 
mourns.” — The Bishop.—Puneral Sermon. — “With Christ.” 

— “ Far Better.” — A Reminiscence. — “ Duty-hours.” — Trans¬ 
lation ------ Page 247 


LIST OF PLATES. 


Portrait - 

- 

- to face Title-page, y 

A Native of Palawan - 

- 

11 

page 54 * 

H.M.S. “ Royalist ” on a Reef - 

- 

11 

„ 59 ' 

Pursued by Pirates 

- 

11 

79 *' 

The Spot where he fell - 

- 

11 

» 243 - 



MEMOIR 


OF 


CAPTAIN BATE, R.N. 



“ There is a light around his brow, 

A holiness in those calm eyes, 

Which tell, tho’ earth may claim it now, 
His spirit’s home is in the skies.” 



ff He was one of those glorious men whom one so 
seldom meets — of rare mental powders, a fine com¬ 
manding person and manly face, at the same time 
with a benevolence, almost sweetness, of expression, 
that to see him was to yearn to know him, and to 
know him was to love him. The bishop read the 
funeral-service; the volleys were fired over the 
grave; and we looked for the last time into the 
narrow home of the mortal remains of the gallant 
fellow who, four days before, had been on board my 
ship full of health and vigour. Many a rough hand 
dashed away a tear on the day that the beloved 
Captain Bate was taken to his last home.” 

So wrote the commanding officer of Her Majesty’s 
ship Surprise, on the fourth day of the present 
year, announcing to England the “ irreparable loss ” 
which she had sustained in the sudden removal of 
one of the bravest of her sons. 


B 2 


4 


MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


“ Not lost, but gone before,” 

he beckons other wayfarers to tread courageously in 
his footprints. It is the purpose of this Memoir to 
trace those footprints, and to stimulate the timid 
traveller to loftier aspirations, to braver resolves, to a 
calmer and more divine repose. 

Lord Bacon has remarked, that “ the winning of 
honour is but the revealing of a man’s virtue and 
worth, without disadvantage.” If ever the maxim 
was verified, it was in the lamented officer whose 
sudden removal — too early for his country, though 
not too early for himself — has penetrated with a 
thrill of grief so many hearts. “ How can ye be¬ 
lieve,” said Christ, “ which receive honour one of 
another ? ” That, indeed, was honour with “ dis¬ 
advantage.” But those big tear-drops, wiped away 
by the rough hands of the British sailors that day, as 
they laid their beloved Commander to his rest in the 
foreigners’ cemetery at Hong-Kong, te revealed, with¬ 
out disadvantage,” a virtue and a worth which who 
would willingly let die? 


CHAPTER I. 


A Scene in the Atlantic.—The Child. — Characteristics. — A 
Parallel. — “ Taking a Survey.” — The Cannon. — “ Making 
Experiments.”—Boarding-school. —The Footpads.— The Prayer 
and the Egg. — Naval College. — Jokes and “No Jokes.” — 
“A Pickle.” — Birch Law.—Collegians and Sailors. — Life in 
earnest. — First Home afloat. — “ John-Bull-looking Fellow.” — 
Coast of Africa. — Hazardous Adventure. — Generous Heart. — 
“ A Man overboard.” — Noble Deed. — The “ Mids.” — “ Sailing 
Excursion.”—The “Silver Watch.” — The Middy’s Desk.— 
“Curios.”—“Salt-junk.”.— “On Duty.” — “Every inch a Sailor.” 
— A Stroke. — The Orphan. — Turning Point. — Another 
Father. 


“ His e} r e is quick to observe, his memory storeth in secret, 

His ear is greedy of knowledge, and his mind is plastic as soft wax.’’ 




It was a beautiful summer morning in the great 
Atlantic, when a tight little craft was sweeping, full 
sail, along the shore of the island of Ascension. On 
board was a young “ mid ” whose heart beat high in 
the hope of a right joyous welcome; for his father 
was Governor of the island, and “ Billy ” loved and 
was loved with a very peculiar affection. As they 
“ hove to ” before the port, the flags in the harbour 
were observed to be “ half-mast.” The day previous, 
the Governor had been carried off by a fever; and 
the heart-stricken “ middy ” was only in time to fol¬ 
low his father’s corpse to the grave. Poor, dear boy! 
how he wept that evening, as in a quiet shady spot he 
cast the farewell look on the remains of his chief 
earthly stay! That event had an import which by 
and by we shall comprehend. 

“ Nature,” says Bacon, f< is often hidden, sometimes 
overcome, seldom extinguished.” One or two glimpses 


8 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

will reveal to us the early bent of the subject of our 
Memoir. 

It is told of Havelock, that, when about seven years 
of age, he climbed a tree one day to get at a bird’s 
nest, and that, just as he had grasped it, the branch 
which bore him snapped, and down he came, nest and 
all, with a crash to the ground. “Were you not 
frightened,” enquired some one afterwards, “ when 
you found yourself tumbling through the branches ? ” 
“ No,” said he, et I had enough to do to think of the 
eggs ; for I thought they would be sure to be smashed 
to pieces.” And who that knows the calm fearless¬ 
ness of the hero of Lucknow can fail to detect in the 
little incident that which pointed to a future ? 

At the age of five, Willie Bate would climb some 
tree, and, perched on a high branch, would gaze 
all around, as if he would gaze out his very soul. One 
day, his nurse caught him in this position, and rated 
him rather sharply. “ Oh! ” replied the urchin gravely, 
“ I was only taking a survey.” Let us carry with us 
this incident, and interpret in its light his future. 

A year or two later, a favourite amusement was, 
a cannon of somewhat formidable dimensions. Twice 
over, he burnt his eye-brows with it; and not a little 
was he aggrieved when at length, one day, he was 
seriously threatened with the withdrawal of the dan¬ 
gerous plaything. “ What! ” said he, putting him¬ 
self into an attitude of importance, tc I was making 
experiments.” This incident, also, we shall find, was 
not without its future significance. 


EARLY CHARACTERISTICS. 


9 


In his eighth year, Billy was visited with that 
sorest of all calamities—the loss of a wise and loving 
mother. Soon afterwards, he was sent to a boarding- 
school, from which he would return once or twice 
a-year to meet his little sisters. It was in the days of 
tedious coach-journeys; and on the way was a dreary 
heath, which boyish fancies peopled with “ footpads ” 
and other terrors. Billy, however, knew no fear. In 
setting out, it was noticed that he invariably took with 
him that same favourite cannon. “ If the footpads,” 
he would say, ec attack the coach I travel by, I am 
determined to have a pop at them.” 

Like most other boys, he was fain to live “ with¬ 
out God.” At breakfast, one morning, the family- 
devotion was lengthened out a few minutes beyond 
the allotted time. “ Make haste,” he was heard 
whispering, rather restively, “ and be done with that 
prayer; or my egg will be quite cold.” 

In his thirteenth year he was transferred from 
school to the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, 
attended at that time by some sixty or seventy naval 
cadets. “ During his two years’ residence there,” 
says an intimate friend, “he was always among the 
foremost in all active boys’ sports, and in practical 
jokes played off upon the dockyard shipwrights or 
other mechanics, such as putting slip-knots upon 
the stages which they had erected to work from, 
throwing their tools into the docks, painting parts of 
a ship white which were intended to be black; and, 
as these sometimes passed the limit at which jokes 


10 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

# 

terminate and ‘ no jokes ’ commence, he was fre¬ 
quently in scrapes, and was even deemed by some a 
pickle.” And another surviving friend writes: — 
“ Whatever he undertook, he threw his whole heart 
into it—he was a whole man to it for the time : it is 
not to be wondered at, therefore, that, with his energy 
of character, he should have been a leader in fun and 
in mischief; indeed he was more than once on the 
point of being expelled.” 

Strange scenes were enacted in those days within 
that same col We. The future middies were in the 
charge of a very ancient captain in the navy, and of 
a most motley group of old superannuated lieutenants 
and serjeants of marines, whose only discipline was 
the rod, and whose stern voice was almost the only 
sound which greeted the lads outside the class-rooms. 
Cf Commit not,” says one,— - 

“ Thy son to an hireling, nor wrench the young 
heart’s fibres: 

In his helplessness leave him not alone, a stranger among strange 
children, 

Where affection longeth for thy love, counting the dreary hours; 

Where religion is made a terror, and innocence weepeth unheard; 

Where oppression grindeth without remedy, and cruelty delighteth 
in smiting.” 

But such, alas! was the doom of the inmates of the 
Naval College ; and deeply did Willie’s sensitive heart 
feel the sore discipline. 

Yet the young collegian owed to those two years 
the first steady grasp which his mind had yet taken 


THE YOUNG MID. 


11 


of life’s real business. It has been objected that 
collegians are never so good sailors as those who have 
gone direct to sea. Bate always looked back upon 
that brief season as the period when the cultivation 
of his taste for drawing, as well as other studies, led 
him to adopt that difficult and honourable branch of 
his profession to which he dedicated with so distin¬ 
guished success the chief years of his life. “ He was 
a high example,” says an eminent naval officer, who 
has survived him *, “ of what a boy might become, 
who spent the first two years of his apprenticeship at 
a college: we do not know that another system could 
have produced any higher.” 

His first home afloat was the Isis, the flag-ship of 
Rear-Admiral Warren; and his destination was the 
coast of Africa and the Cape. “ I have this day,” 
wrote the captain, to William’s father, from Sierra 
Leone, “received your son on board from the For¬ 
rester: he appears to be a nice, honest, John-Bull- 
looking fellow : very much like yourself, but better 
looking. You may be assured of my care of him on 
his father’s account.” Even during the brief voyage 
out in the Forrester, so favourable was the captain’s 
impression of him, that he offered to take him at any 
time, and gave his father “an elegant brace of 
pistols, worth ten guineas, to present to him when he 
was made Lieutenant.” 

Five years the young “ mid ” spent on that station, 


* Captain E. G. Fishbourne, R.N. 


12 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

his generous, frank, unselfish temperament marking 
“ Billy Bate ” out as the general favourite, first in the 
Isis, then in the Thalia, and latterly in the Trinculo 
and in the Pelican. 

A brave fearless boy, he oftentimes faced dangers, 
before which less resolute spirits would have quailed. 
“ Perhaps there is no place in the world,” writes an 
eye-witness, t( where the f rollers,’ or breakers, are so 
grand and imposing, as at the island of Ascension. 
During the time they last, it is most dangerous to 
venture on the sea in a boat; and vessels are often in 
the hay for days together without being able, except 
by signal, to communicate with the shore. I well 
remember, that one day, when the rollers were un¬ 
usually high, w r e observed a boat coming from the 
Admiral’s ship, and making for the land. Who 
could he the daring adventurer, thus to tempt the 
perils of the deep ? A glass was instantly in request; 
and, with no little anxiety, we watched the progress 
of the boat, tossed by the foaming, raging waves, as 
they threatened each moment to overwhelm her. 
Happily she reached the shore in safety; and who 
should be the first to land but our joyous young 
friend, William Bate, wdio knew no fear, and had 
succeeded in getting a few volunteers to join him in 
his perilous voyage ? Though his father,” adds our 
informant, Cf upbraided the rash risk he had run, I am 
sure he secretly admired the courageous spirit of his 
brave and dauntless boy, who seemed thoroughly to 
have enjoyed his hazardous adventure.” 


13 


“A MAN OVERBOARD.” 

His fearless heart was as generous as it was brave. 
“ There are few,” it has been said, 

“Who deserve to have thy confidence; 

Yet weep not, for there are some, and some such live for thee.” 

One day, the frigate was cruising in the Bight of 
Benin; and, as she swept along at eight knots an 
hour, suddenly a shout was heard, (( a man over¬ 
board ! ” The place was known to be infested by 
sharks ; and, just before, some had been seen prowling 
about the ship. A paleness gathered on some faces, 
as the man was seen struggling in the waves; but one 
bold spirit did not shrink. A few moments, and Bate 
was in the waves at his side — seized the drowning 
man — and succeeded in keeping him above water 
until the boat reached them, when both, nearly ex¬ 
hausted, were rescued. 

Even on the most trifling little occasions of every¬ 
day life, the kindliness of his generous soul would show 
itself. As his father was Governor,” says the same 
eye-witness, “ his occasional visits to the island gave 
William a famous opportunity of showing attention to 
his messmates whenever the vessel came into harbour. 
At those times his friends were never forgotten; he 
was invariably accompanied by some of them on shore; 
and those left on board were always supplied with a 
host of good things. Frequently, very frequently, he 
has come to our house with a cargo of nice stores for 
his friends, such as jars of preserved ginger, foreign 
fruits, and other dainties, which he had obtained for 


14 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


them from his indulgent parent. One morning, in 
particular, I remember him coming to us in ecstasies, 
exclaiming, f All right! my father has at last granted 
my request.’ It was a fat young pig for the mid¬ 
shipmen’s mess. ‘ But where will you keep him?’ 
we enquired. ‘ Oh ! piggy/ he replied, with a hearty 
laugh, ‘ we’ll stow him away as a pet in a middy’s 
chest, till we require him for the table.’ ” 

One of his adventures at this period was remem¬ 
bered as “ The Fishing Excursion.” It was a birth¬ 
day or some gala-day, when he had obtained for a 
few of his choice friends a holiday on shore. Early 
in the morning, they started in a boat for ee a group 
of rocks round the point,” where the rock-cod and 
black fish abounded ; and, once there, they pro¬ 
ceeded on an exploratory expedition to an unfre¬ 
quented cove, a considerable distance off, which had 
the character of being infested with sharks. It was 
a strict order on board that any absent boat should 
quit the shore before sunset; but evening came, 
the flags had been hauled down, and still no tidings 
of the young fishermen. Fears began to be enter¬ 
tained for their safety, and a boat was just proceeding 
in search, when, as darkness closed in, the hapless 
middies made their appearance ; and in such a plight! 
The boat had upset in the cove; and the youthful 
crew had narrowly escaped with their lives. They 
had returned over the rocks by the sea-shore, a long 
and difficult route; and, besides having lost some of 
their clothes, they were weary, hungry, and worn. 


THE MIDDY’S LETTER. 


15 


William, minus a shoe, and a silver watch which he 
had got from his father, rather dreaded meeting him; 
hut it was not in his frank and open nature to conceal 
his faults, and on the very next morning he hastened 
on shore and told him all, acknowledging with sorrow 
his carelessness, and asking pardon for himself and 
his companions. 

The (( silver watch ” had a little history. It was 
the first he had ever possessed ; and he had made an 
amusing bargain with his father, that, if he would 
only give it him, he should in return surrender to 
him “ all the prize-money he might make on the 
coast.” 

Another day, we have a glimpse of the middy at 
his desk. The Pelican was lying off the island, and 
his father sent him word that a merchant-ship was 
on the point of sailing for England and that he must 
prepare his letters for home. Willie was forthwith 
on shore with his desk. “ After showing us,” writes 
a friend, “ a variety of his prized c curios,’ he produced 
sundry sheets of letter-paper, all closely written, and 
each sheet containing precisely the same news, word 
for word alike, save the names, which were left to be 
filled in. He then asked us to assist him in selecting 
the clearest and best-written letter for his Grand¬ 
mother, an especial favourite. This selection being 
made, f My dear Granny,’ was inserted, and the letter 
folded and addressed with great glee; f for,’ said he, 
‘ this way of writing saves me a world of trouble.’” 

That day, as he sat at the desk showing his 


16 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R,N. 


(( curios,” one in particular seemed to take his fancy 
exceedingly. It was a little box, highly polished, 
having the appearance of a dark reddish grained 
wood. ee This,” says our informant, “ he assured us 
was made of f salt-junk,’ such as the sailors in days 
of scarcity used to get for their provisions. Hard 
and tough indeed it was ; and we looked rather in¬ 
credulously on the little box, thinking our friend 
wished to play some joke on us ; but we afterwards 
ascertained that William was right, and he heartily 
laughed at our want of faith. The box was really 
made out of the salt-beef, which had been compressed, 
dried, and hardened, so that it bore an exact resem¬ 
blance to coarse-grained wood.” 

But graver characteristics were alreadv showing 
themselves. “ William on shore for his holidavs,” 
says the same friend, “ and William on shore on duty, 
seemed two very different beings. Well do I re¬ 
member how we used to smile at the air with which 
he would pass our house when in the performance of 
her Majesty’s service, and would look round gravely 
and say, * I cannot speak to-day, for I am on duty? ” 
And his father wrote: — “ Willie is everv inch a 
sailor. He is devoted to his work, and never spares 
any pains to make himself acquainted with his duty .” 
The characteristic was to ripen, at a future day, into 
the grand feature of his life. 

It was on one of these periodical visits to the 
island, that the heart of the young mid was stunned, 
as we have seen, by the sad news that his revered and 


TURNING POINT. 


17 


beloved father had been suddenly snatched away. 
Fondlj r attached to him, and clinging to him all the more 
warmly that his island-home seemed like the loved 
domestic hearth of Old England translated to the soli- 
tudes of the mighty ocean, he was anticipating, that 
morning, in high spirits the old familiar welcome,— 
when, alas ! the orphaned boy stood weeping, before 
night, at the side of his father’s grave. “ The blow,” 
says a surviving friend, “ left on his affectionate heart 
a deep but solemn impression, which may be con¬ 
sidered the turning point in his career.” 

“ Hush! e’en now, thy Father, speaking, answers from the 
heavenly land, 

Tells thee how this deep affliction has proceeded from His hand. 

Fear no more, for He is with thee; check each murmur, and be 
still; 

He shall show thee how to suffer, how to do, His righteous will.” 

Yes, dear boy! another Father has taken thee 
by the hand now. 


c 










CHAPTER II. 


A Parallel. — “ Man’s Chief End.” — The Cross. — Christ only. — 
The Cadet’s arrival in England. — A Fellowship. — Decision 
for God. — Chinese War. — Mate of the Blenheim. — Church in 
the Ship.—The Prayer-meeting.— The “Blue-lights.” — “Swear 

not at all.” — Assault on Canton. — The Breach. — Wounded. *_ 

Hair’s-breadth Escape. — “Not yet.” 




“ A soul redeemed demands 'a life of praise ; 
Hence the complexion of his future days.” 




21 


Lady Huntingdon, one evening, was on her way 
to a brilliant assembly, when suddenly there darted 
into her soul this word — "Man’s chief end is to 
glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.”* From that 
hour, her whole life revolved round a new centre. 
The guilty, trembling sinner—hitherto occupied with 
her poor self—gazed on the face of Him who had 
died for her; and,. as she gazed, her conscience found 
peace, and her heart a satisfying rest. Her whole 
future life became one “ living sacrifice.” 

Into the future of William Bate the same main¬ 
spring was now imported. Before, he had won all 
hearts by his warm, affectionate, open, manly bearing; 
but now a new radiance was to be shed over all, at 
once within and around him. "Love,” it has been 
said, “ love to the Lord, alone is life:” that love was 

* She had committed it to memory, years before, in learning the 
Westminster Shorter Catechism. 

c 3 


22 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

now to brighten a path which had little else to light 
it up. 

Not many weeks after his father’s death, the young 
cadet arrived in England. Transferred to the Bri¬ 
tannia, he had found, in one of his messmates, just 
such a help as he at that crisis needed. Henry Mar- 
tyn, at a similar stage of his inner life, met at Cam¬ 
bridge a friend who cc attempted to persuade him 
that he ought to attend to reading, not for the praise 
of men, but for the glory of God and, for the first 
time, the conviction dawned upon him that he must 
set out upon a new course. The same gracious Lord 
provided for William Bate a like friend in need. A 
veil rests over the details of this fellowship ; but night 
after night, at stolen intervals, did the two cadets 
speak one to another ” of Him who was becoming 
their all in all. And, before he again sailed from 
England, Bate had taken his stand firmly and deci¬ 
sively on the Lord’s side. “ I see no business in life,” 
Martyn wrote, one day, in his Diary, “ but the work 
of Christ; neither do I desire any employment to all 
eternity but His service. I am a sinner saved by 
grace.” The young sailor had now made a like sur¬ 
render ; and, till the day he fell at Canton amidst 
the tears of all his fellows, he served lovallv his 

t/ «/ 

heavenly King, “ without fear and without reproach.” 

Scarcely had he passed his examination for a Lieu¬ 
tenant, when war broke out with China; and youno- 
Bate was summoned to that field where he was to pass 
the remaining thirteen years of his life, and where 


CIIUKCH IN THE SHIP. 


23 


also lie was to finish his brief but bright career. On 
the voyage out, he had the fellowship of a young 
officer who united with him in daily reading and 
prayer ; and, on reaching the Chinese waters, he was 
installed as mate of the Blenheim, a line-of-battle ship 
of 74 guns.* 

On board the Blenheim, in the fore-cockpit, was a 
little cabin, dark and narrow and out of the way, in 
which for eight months a small knot of gunroom- 
officers gathered night after night to pray together 
and to study the Scriptures. A subject was fixed 
previously for each successive evening, such as the 
“ Trinity,” the “ Personality and divinity of the Holy 
Ghost,” the “ Atonementand, for two hours, the 
little band of disciples would interchange their pleasant 
communings. Outside the cabin-door was the ship’s 
prison, where the oaths and ribaldry of the culprits 
in irons not seldom disturbed the holy converse 
within : but only the more thankful did it make them 
for that grace which had made themselves to differ; and 
often, often did it teach them to lift their eyes upward 
with a fresh intenseness of longing, and sing— 

“ World of spirits ! bright and lovely, 

Where the wearied find their rest; 

Where no sin, no danger enters, 

Where no cruel foes molest.” 


* One of the officers has recorded in his Diary this entry: — 
“1841, March 19. William Thornton Bate exchanged into our ship 
from the Melville, 74. We were rejoiced to find he was on the 
Lord’s side; and he soon made one in our midst.” 






24 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

The praying company went by the name of the 
“ blue-lights ”—the sailor’s version of “ methodists ” 
or “ new-lights ” on shore. And no small trial of 
their faith it cost them, to brave the sneer so often 
curling upon the lip as they mingled with their scoffing 
messmates. But “ by these things men live.” And 
by these things William Bate, like the sapling-oak 
which the rude blast only fixes more firmly in the 
soil, was growing into a man of firmer nerve and of 
bolder and more courageous faith. 

One member of the little band had, not long before, 
been a notorious swearer. Scarcely an hour or half- 
hour passed without a volley of oaths. One morning 

a sailor was performing some duty, and P-swore 

at him most fearfully. “ My dear fellow !” whispered 
another officer, kindly touching him on the shoulder, 
and in a tone of the gentlest tenderness, “ swear not 
at all!” The arrow went straight to the swearer’s 
heart; and, before many weeks, the swearer’s cabin 
was the chosen place of prayer. He was the ship’s 
“ second masterand, after a year or two of a bright 
Christian walk, he was called — first of the little circle 
of confessors — to enter into the rest above. A sur¬ 
vivor, referring to these fore-cockpit meetings, writes : 
“ Truly can I say, and I believe we all felt, that those 
seasons were among the most happy and privileged of 
our lives.” 

An occasion ere long arose, to test the certainty of 
his Christian faith and hope. 

The Blenheim had been lying some weeks off Can- 



25 


HAIR’S-BREADTH ESCArE. 

ton, wlien one morning all hands were ordered to 
“ prepare to assault the town.” Situated on a plain 
which is swept on two sides by the river, and having 
in the rear a considerable mountain called the White 
Cloud Mountain, the city was commanded by certain 
forts occupying some three or four slightly elevated 
hills immediately behind the town. The forts were 
occupied by Tartar troops, whilst the city itself with 
its suburbs, containing a population of a million souls, 
was protected by a wall twenty-five feet thick at the 
base. Our own troops were a mere handful; but, 
with the courage natural to Englishmen, the command 
was given to take the forts. The blue-jackets in¬ 
stantly landed ; and, almost in the twinkling of an eye, 
they were scaling the heights. Bate was among the 
first to mount the breach; and, just as he had reached 
the summit, he was struck below the chin by a ball. 
Instantly his whole chest was covered with blood, 
and it was thought the w r ound was mortal. But the 
gallant fellow pushed on, pistol in hand; and the 
next moment his pistol was struck by another ball, 
which cut it in two.* 

The crisis was past. The “ braves ” fled in precipi¬ 
tation. And the British force was in possession of the 
fort, since known as the “ Blue-jackets’ Height.” 

Now at leisure to care for his wound, Bate proceeded 
calmly to the surgeon, who found it was only a flesh- 


* A lieutenant and mate of the brigade were killed ; another lost 
his leg ; and four other officers were wounded in this attack. 


26 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


wound. But, twice that morning, he had escaped death 
by a hair’s-breadth. He was “ preserved in Christ 
Jesus.” Years afterwards he was to fall, mortally 
wounded, almost on that identical spot; but, mean¬ 
while, God had a work to do in him and bv him ; 
and, until that work was done, he was immortal. 

“ Go, labour on ! ’tis not for nought, 

All earthly loss is heavenly gain ! 

Men heed thee not, men praise thee not; 

The Master praises ! what are men ? ” 


CHAPTER III. 


An Instinct and a Grace. — Nelson, Leonidas, Havelock. — 
Pleasing God. — Growing in Grace. — The Survey. — “ Natures” 
and “ Vocations.” — The War. — An Adventure. — Critical Po¬ 
sition.— An old Fellowship. —A Blue-button Mandarin.—Hand- 
to-hand Fight. — Capture. — Gallant Feat. —Generosity. — 
“ Charmed Life.” — Flag of Truce. — Close of the War. 


Teach me, my God and King, 
In all things Thee to see; 
And what I do in anything, 
To do it as for Thee.” 


29 


% 


No two things more essentially differ than an in¬ 
stinct and a grace. Nelson could proclaim the watch¬ 
word, “ England expects every man to do his duty ; ” 
Leonidas could point his heroic hand at Thermo¬ 
pylae to “ the eyes of all Greece; ” but Havelock, 
after a series of victories, whose recital thrilled Eng¬ 
land’s great heart after a fashion it never before had 
known, could write — ff Away with vainglory! 
Thanks to Almighty God, who gave me the victory !” 
Even without grace, Bate would have been an earnest, 
steady officer; but, in the hard and often thankless 
task which awaited him in coming years, he manfully 
faced all duty, counting it his joy to please Him who 
had <c called him unto the fellowship of His son.” A 
shipmate, on his return home, wrote : — “ Our dear 
friend, Bate, was quite well shortly before I left, and, 
thank God, growing in grace.” 

J o o o 


30 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


Before tlie affair of Canton, lie had volunteered to 
Captain Collinson to be his assistant for the survey of 
the Chinese waters. The latter, having now obtained 
the command of the Plover, at once secured Bate’s 
services. “ His activity and energy,” writes Captain 
Collinson*, “ were so conspicuous, that it was only by 
dint of great importunity that Sir Thomas Herbert, 
who had succeeded Sir F. Senhouse in the command 
of the Blenheim, consented to lose his services, per¬ 
mitting him to join my ship.” And thus he entered 
on that special line of service in which he was to 
spend his remaining years, with a distinction which 
placed him confessedly in the very front rank of his 
profession, — not even Sir F. Beaufort, the eminent 
head of the Hydrographic department of the Navy, 
occupying a more distinguished place. 

Meanwhile, he had another brush with the “ braves.” 
His ship w r as selected by the admiral to conduct the 
fleet up the Chinese Sea, and, in the attack on Amoy, 
to lead it into position. The place was defended by 
five hundred guns ; but such was the panic of the 
enemy, that the town was captured by the British 
without the loss of a single man, — some mandarins 
being so terror-stricken as actually to lay violent hands 
on themselves before the very eyes of the invaders. 

“ They are the happy men,” it has been said, 
<f whose natures sort with their vocations.” It soon 

* The observations of Captain Collinson are from a paper kindlv 
prepared by him for this Memoir. 


AN ADVENTURE. 


31 


became apparent that Bate was of this class. “ Here/’ 
says Collinson, referring to the commencement of 
surveying operations after the fall of Amoy, “ he re¬ 
ceived the first and only lesson in nautical surveying 
which I had ever occasion to give him. Educated 
at the Naval College, he had of course seen a theo¬ 
dolite; hut he was not practically acquainted with 
its use. We landed together at our first station ; and, 
putting up the theodolite, I took a round of angles, 
he noting for me. I then put the instrument out of 
gear — let him level it, take a few* angles, and put it 
in the box — he next was ordered to take up a series 
of stations, so as to carry out the triangulation round 
the bay ; and, on plotting our work that night, I found 
at once I had obtained an efficient and trustworthy 
assistant.” 

The war, however, was not yet ended; and, wherever 
there was a post of danger, there the young lieutenant* 
was sure to he found. One of his adventures is nar¬ 
rated by Captain Collinson thus: — “ On the night 
after the capture of Chinhai, he narrowly escaped with 
his life. The Plover, having taken up a position in¬ 
side the stakes, the Chinese in the course of the night 
made an attempt to burn her. He was sent to ex¬ 
amine a junk drifting towards us, when, on boarding 
her and lifting the hatches, the flames suddenly 
burst out. Bate, the first to enter the junk, stood 


* He had been promoted, 11th October, 1841, for his gallantry 
in mounting the heights of Canton. 


32 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


for a moment alone; for the boat’s crew, fearing an 
explosion, instantly shoved off. Their officer made 
a leap back again, but was precipitated into the water; 
and, not till after a critical struggle, was he re¬ 
covered.” 

Some months later, another adventure occurred. 
His ship had been despatched to the northern part of 
the Chusan archipelago, to examine it preparatory to 
the movement of the fleet. On their arrival, a party 
landed by two boats in a shallow creek, and had pro¬ 
ceeded with all but the boat-keepers across a low 
level plain towards a small isolated hill, when, leaving 
the others at the foot, Bate and Collinson went to 
the summit to look, around. “ Suddenly,” writes 
the latter, “ I perceived him to run forward, at the 
same time drawing his sword ; and I soon found he 
was chasing a Chinaman who with sword and shield 
had been ensconced on the summit, watching our 
proceedings. A horrid shout, however, distracted 
our attention from the individual; and, on looking on 
the plain below, we found the Chinese army drawn 
up in array to receive us. Nothing remained but a 
sharp retreat to the boats, from which we should 
have been cut off had it not been for the determined 
face which Bate, in command of the rear, maintained, 
—keeping them in check by a cool, well-directed 
fire.” The next morning, twenty-five in number, 
they went on shore; and, in the course of forty 
minutes, without a single casualty, dispersed the 
Chinese forces, killing their leader and twenty others, 


CHARACTERISTICS. 


33 


capturing their military chest, and setting fire to 
their junks. “ This success,” Captain Collinson adds, 
tc was mainly owing to the prompt manner in which 
Hall and Bate led their men along the plain.” 

That spring, he was privileged to enjoy once again 
the old fellowship of the Blenheim. “ Bate and 
Giles,” wrote one of the little band of Christian 
brothers to a fourth who by this time had returned 
to England, et are on board the Plover, very happy 
and comfortable. I spent the most of my time with 
them when at Ningpo on leave for ten days in 
December. I thought of you, and felt how sweet it 
was to mingle with those we hope to dwell with for 
ever. Often, with delight, I remember the happy 
evenings we spent together in this retreat of mine — 
an unspeakable privilege! After you left,” he adds, 
“ a great alteration took place: all were scattered; 
and soon I shall be left alone, dear Norman to whom 
I am indebted more than I can repay being pro¬ 
moted.” 

Some weeks elapsed; and another illustrative in¬ 
cident presented itself. It was at the assault on 
Chapoo. i( To the Plover,” writes Captain Collinson, 
was assigned the office of covering the landing of 
the troops; and, on Sir H. Gough leaving the beach, 
he accepted my tender of Lieutenant Bate’s services 
as his aide-de-camp to keep up communication with 
the rear. Among the outward defences of the city 
were several horse-shoe shaped enclosures, whence 
the Chinese maintained a harassing fire. Supported 

D 


34 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

bv two men. Bate made a rush at one of the enclo- 

«/ J 

sures, and was at once involved in a hand-to-hand 
combat with the officer commanding it — a blue- 
button mandarin. In the course of the struggle, 
both parties fell to the ground; but Bate by his 
superior agility remained uppermost, and succeeded 
in disarming his antagonist and in making him 

O O O 

prisoner.” 

A few minutes later, a fresh achievement meets 
us. The troops were now at the gates of the city, 
but without any battering train or field-piece to force 
them open. The commander, “ apprehensive that 
the Chinese might rally before any men could be 
brought to the front,” was looking round on every 
side with anxiety, not knowing what to do, when 
suddenly Bate was seen sword in hand scaling the 
w r all alone. The next moment, he was on the summit; 
the Chinese, supposing him to be the leader of a 
party, precipitately abandoned the post; and the 
brave fellow, coolly descending on the other side, 
opened the gates to the troops. 

On the same occasion, another characteristic showed 
itself. Now within the city, the troops attacked a joss- 
house occupied by a body of three hundred Tartars, 
who had fled to it as their last refuge. Driven to des¬ 
peration, the Tartars resisted till the greater part'of 
them were killed. In the conflict, the 18th Royal Irish 
lost their colonel and nine of their men; and at last 
they were so maddened, that, rushing upon the sur¬ 
vivors and upon some prisoners whom they had taken 


iiair’s-breadth escape. 


35 


in the assault, they were about to massacre them in 
cold blood, when Bate, coming up and throwing him¬ 
self betwixt them and their victims, saved the poor 
creatures’ lives. Among the rescued was the blue- 
button mandarin, who had just been thirsting for his 
blood. 

It seemed as if he bore a charmed life. On the 
capture of another town that summer, the naval 
brigade was passing securely along one of the streets, 
when a Tartar soldier came creeping up on all fours 
as if severely wounded, and got close enough to take 
a <f pot-shot ” at the officers heading the party. 
“ Bate,” says Captain Collinson, who was present, 
“ narrowly escaped the shot.” 

One morning, as he lay off Nankin in temporary 
command of two of her Majesty’s ships, a state-barge 
put off from the shore, bearing a flag of truce. It 
was an emissary from the governor, with a letter 
addressed to the English, and containing proposals of 
peace. Up to that hour, the “Brother of the Sun ” 
had never communicated with the “outside bar¬ 
barian ” except through the most subordinate officials. 
Bate was thus the first European to receive a direct 
overture from a Chinese viceroy. A few weeks 
later, he was honoured to navigate down the river 
H.M.S. Blonde with the first instalment of the 
Chinese ransom. 




CHAPTER IV. 


Heavenly Discipline.—Survey.—Privations.—Seamanship.—Hidden 
Life.—“Alone, alone.”—Growing Holiness.—Return to England. 
—Fresh Trial.—“An Oversight.”—Patience.— Studies.—Wool¬ 
wich.—Portsmouth.— Excelsior.— Home-affections.—Promotion. 
— Royalist. —“ A Wreck.” —Duty_“ Toil on 1 ” 


“ With manifold instruction 
The heii’s of life are ti'ained, 
Till, heaven’s portals opening, 
Their holy prize is gained. 

“ Oh ! keep me ever learning, 
Subdued beneath Thy rod ; 
Make me a better scholar, 

But teach me still, my God ! ” 



39 


e( Pkosperity,” says Bacon, “is the blessing of the 
Old Testament, adversity of the New, though the 
latter carry the greater benediction and the clearer 
revelation of God’s favour.” Bate had now cast in 
his lot decisively with Christ; and it seemed as if 
the Fatherly discipline demanded not a little cross¬ 
bearing. 

The war being over, the whole fleet were looking 

o 7 o 

for some signal recognition of his distinguished ser- 
vices. “ It was well known,” writes Collinson, “ that 
Captain Ivellett was on the eve of relinquishing his 
command, to return home ; and Sir W. Parker, with 
a just appreciation of Bate’s merits, had announced 
his intention to confer it upon him,—the command of 
such a vessel, well adapted to the purposes of the 
survey, being regarded as the first instalment of the 
reward which he had so justly earned. In this, how¬ 
ever,” adds the same officer, “ we were doomed to 

D 4 


40 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, K.N. 

be disappointed. Instead of the Starling, an unhandy 
little vessel was appropriated to the service. And, 
with one officer besides himself, and a crew of sixteen 
men — with but indifferent accommodation — and 
scarcely protected from the heat, he encountered for 
three years the burning sun of a Chinese summer, and 
the not less trying storm and tempest of the winter 
months, so well known to those who have navigated 
the Formosa channel.” 

Manfully and without a murmur did he execute 
this task. “ The vast advantage,” Captain Collinson 
continues, “ I received from his hearty co-operation 
can never be effaced from my memory. With im¬ 
plicit confidence in‘his judgment, I was relieved in a 
great measure from the harassing anxiety caused by 
the navigation of a craft which could be called neither 
boat nor vessel, as well as by the possibility of attack 
by pirates. Many instances of timely succour in 
cases of need in the course of this service crowd on 
my memory. I knew his eye was always on me; 
and, if I was prevented by bad weather from rejoin¬ 
ing my own vessel, I felt certain that I should be 
picked up. One instance may suffice. We sailed from 
Amoy ; and, the morning being fine, I left in a boat, to 
put in the coast-line, while the two vessels proceeded 
to sound the neighbourhood of the Merope shoals. 
Shortly after noon, one of those sudden storms 
occurred with rain and thick haze, not only entirely 
interrupting our operations, but compelling us to 
beach the boat. Here we remained, thoroughly 


SEAMANSHIP.— HIDDEN LIFE. 


41 


drenched, without a chance of regaining the vessels, 
and prepared to take up our quarters on the beach 
for the night,—when, through the mist, at scarcely a 
cable’s-length distance from the shore, the little 
schooner was seen, scanning every nook and corner, 
until the object of her search was found.” 

At length, the outline of the coast was completed, 
the whole seaboard from the Chusan archipelago to 
Hong-Kong being delineated with incredible labour 
on “ ninety-five sheets of drawing paper.” “ Nothing, 
I believe,” Collinson adds, “but a stern determination 
to do his duty, and a warm affection for myself, 
induced him to put up with the discomfort and 
harassing toil of these years.” 

Picturing the hidden life of the tried cross-bearer, 
a kindred spirit has written— 

“ Alone, alone — in the world alone, 

Pacing the desert wild ; 

Say, who is this unacknowledged one, 

With aspect calm and mild? 

“Alone, alone—on the earth alone, 

His heart seems far away, 

In spirit-worlds, to our gaze unknown, 

Where other sunbeams play. 

“ Alone, alone — in rough paths alone, 

In pilgrim-garments now, 

His eye discerneth a radiant crown, 

Which soon shall deck his brow.” 

Over the inner trials and triumphs of faith in those 
years a veil rests : but a friend who met him at 


42 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

Amoy towards their close tells how lie had gathered 
upon his whole hearing and converse a fresh heaven- 
liness, as if in the solitude of his quiet cabin he had 
been drawn into a deepening intimacy with Him who 
delights in the broken and contrite spirit. 

In the spring of 1846, the Plover was ordered 
home; and Bate, declining the command of the 
miserable little craft, which had been offered him by 
Sir T. Cochrane with the view of pursuing the sur¬ 
vey of the coast to the south and west of the Canton 
river, returned, as the Plover’s senior lieutenant, to 
England. 

But it was only to suffer a new disappointment of 
his just hopes. “ I naturally expected, on my arrival,” 
Captain Collinson writes, “ that his meritorious services 
during the war, combined with his indefatigable exer¬ 
tions subsequently, would be duly and cordially ac¬ 
knowledged. But I regret to say that this was not the 
case. Under the pretext that he was c a surveying 
officer,’ his claims were for a whole twelvemonth dis¬ 
regarded.” And another officer, who held a com¬ 
mand in the Chinese waters, writes : — “ Sir George 
Cockburn, who had been first sea-lord of the Ad¬ 
miralty during the Chinese War, was requested to 
explain how it was that Lieutenant Bate had not been 
promoted equally with the first lieutenants of other 
ships engaged. The reply was, that it was an over¬ 
sight, and that he felt that Lieutenant Bate ought to 
have been promoted for his conduct in scaling the 
walls of Chapoo. He even gave him a letter to Sir 


“an OVERSIGHT.”—PATIENCE. 43 

Charles Adam, then first sea-lord; and it was sup¬ 
ported by another from Sir William Parker, who had 
been commander-in-chief during the war. But they 
were of no avail. The Admiralty never admit a 
mistake, and, unless at the instance of powerful poli¬ 
tical friends, never repair one, however unjust.” 

The neglect was very trying; but he had learned 
to (i possess his soul in patience.” Amidst man’s 
coldness, a voice from his Father in heaven seemed 
to whisper to him — 

“ Thou art praying, watching, waiting, yet it passeth not away; 

And there is not aught so sickening as a hope deferred each day: 

Grace is pledged thee, grace sufficient, for thy deepest, longest need; 

Help when thou art feeling weakness, strength for every word and 
deed.” 

The occasion was just one of those testing seasons 
in a man’s life, when he discovers practically what 
his religion is worth to him. What some men 
on such occasions achieve by the mere force of a 
strong will, Bate owed to a calm repose in his God. 
Not sinking into a mystic quietism, but putting forth 
his own manly, steadfast faith; he determined to 
make the best of the enforced interval of rest by a 
course of severe professional study, contentedly wait¬ 
ing until He who ordereth all steps should open up 
his way. 

Captain Collinson writes: — ff Instead of languish¬ 
ing under the feeling that he had been unwarrantably 
passed over, and that the reward for the services 


44 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

which had made his commander a Captain and a Com¬ 
panion of the Bath, was not extended to him who 
had served as senior lieutenant throughout the same 
operations, he diligently set to work to avail himself 
of the course of instruction at the Naval College at 
Portsmouth.” 

His uniform aim was to master thoroughly what¬ 
ever he took in hand; and therefore, whilst most other 
men would have been content with the unusual mea¬ 
sure of attainments already reached, he who had now 
for five or six years been conducting operations of the 
most difficult nature, and with a success which had 
commanded the marked and almost enthusiastic ap¬ 
proval of every party who witnessed them, was not 
ashamed to take his place once more in the class room, 
first at Woolwich and afterwards at the College just 
named, during a space of nearly two years. 

We have bfefore us, as we write, no fewer than six 
considerable manuscript volumes, embodying the re¬ 
sults of his studies during those years. One of them 
is marked, “Steam Factory at Woolwich,” and re¬ 
lates to a variety of problems on steam navigation, 
illustrated by a number of neat-handed sketches. 
The other five were used at the College, and contain 
an immense number of exercises on the “ Applica¬ 
tion of the Integral Calculus,” on “ Curvature,” on 
(( Forces,” on the “ Method of Indeterminate Coeffi¬ 
cients,” on the “ Differential Calculus;” besides a series 
on “ Optics,” and another on “ Astronomy.” The 
general impression conveyed by a perusal of the 


HOME-AFFECTIONS. 


45 


whole is that of a singular exactness and thorough¬ 
ness. He went to the bottom of everything, not 
content with a slip-shod, superficial idea of things, 
but grasping every subject with a steady hand. 

There was also a warmth of affection about him, 
coupled with an extreme simplicity of character, 
which made him a perfect model of a friend and a 
brother. “ I have now arrived safe among my dear 
sisters,” he writes at this period to a bereaved relative, 
“ and exchanged a life of health and activity for one 
of peaceful enjoyment with those from whom I have 
been so long separated. Alas! I wish I could have 
found no change amongst your own dear circle. The 
affliction is sore indeed to those who are left (that 
our family can well tell you); but what a glorious 
meeting awaits us ! J--is up to the eyes in busi¬ 

ness, all on my account, as she conceives my ward¬ 
robe not to be in first-rate order after a seven years’ 
cruise. They all desire their kindest love.” 

At length, through the intervention of a friend 
who happened to be in a position to wield some poli¬ 
tical influence, he was promoted to the rank of Com¬ 
mander; and, some months later, he was selected by 
Sir F. Beaufort to resume the survey in the China 
waters. At once he proceeded overland, and took 
the command of the Royalist, the vessel destined for 
this service. 

It was only to meet a fresh disappointment. The 
survey was one of peculiar danger, the particular coast 
being so perilous that it used to be said of it, “ You 



46 MEMOIR OP CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

have only to look over the side at any time, and you 
will be sure to see a wreck.” <c And yet the craft as- 
signed to him,” says a naval officer already quoted, 
“ he found, on his arrival, to be herself little better 
than a wreck. She was so full of vermin, too, that 
she had to be sunk to rid her of them. And a crew 
he had to cater, as he best might, among the reckless 
runaways from the merchant-service.” 

But, nothing daunted, he once more set his face 
bravely to the duty laid upon him. It was duty; 
and, that settled, he meekly took up the cross, looking 
for the verdict of another day, when the loving Master 
above should pronounce the “ Well done!” Mean¬ 
while, amidst the solitudes of the coming years, he 
was to overhear, by the fine ear of faith, more than 
once or twice, the heavenly consolation — 

“ Toil on, toil on ! Thou soon shalt find 
For labour, rest; for exile, home: 

Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice, 

The midnight peal, ‘ Behold, I come.’ ” 


CHAPTER V. 


The Great Highway. — Eastern Archipelago.— Future Empire.— 
Palawan. — Reefs.— “Most difficult Waters.”—Incessant La¬ 
bours.— Civilisation.— Survey. — Natives. — Dangerous Naviga¬ 
tion.— “Stupendous Wall.” — Settlements.— Malays.— The Red 
Flag.—Visit to Chief. — “ Palace.” — Aborigines. — Contour of 
Country.—A Bivouac. — Peaks. — Station-pole. — Providences. — 
Coral Reef.—Vessel struck. — Serious Peril.—“Terrific Bumps.” 
—Saved.— Hong-Kong.— A meeting. — “Enterprise.”—The Le¬ 
gend.— Secret of Peace. —“Not by Bread alone.” 


/ 


“ His love is principle, and has its root 
In reason, is judicious, manly, free.” 




49 


In the way towards that eastern coast of China 
«/ 

to which the hopes of our merchants are now so 
strongly turned (said the Times, on a recent occasion), 
lie the fragments of a shivered continent. Great 
spiral peninsulas stretch southwards; and immense 
islands, whose interiors are unknown to us, lie about. 
Bordering although they do on the highway of 
commerce, some of them are as little known as the 
fanciful regions of the ancient geographers. The mi¬ 
crocosm of a Peninsular and Oriental Steamer listens 
with a half-credulity to stories of flying monkeys, and 
prodigious serpents, and a population of cannibals, 
while the vessel dashes through an archipelago of 
islands thickly clad with tropical foliage and canopied 
with lofty palms. The passengers are looking to¬ 
wards their point of destination, and spare few thoughts 
to the untamed regions which lie upon their path. 
Yet they are skirting the precincts of a future empire, 

E 


50 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN AV. T. BATE, R.N. 


which must at ’ some not very distant day take part 
in the world’s history. It cannot but happen that 
where coal and metal are plentiful, where land is 
fabulously fruitful, and rain and sunshine alternate 
through the year, that region must be of great poli¬ 
tical and financial importance in the hands of civilised 
possessors. All commerce round the Cape, all com¬ 
munication by way of Egypt and the Red Sea, must 
thread the narrow channels which separate the frag¬ 
ments of this broken piece of earth. It has all the 
elements of a great future, all the possibilities of a 
vast empire. The age of romance is not ended whilst 
the islands of the Eastern Archipelago remain unex¬ 
plored. 

Of these islands, not the least important, from its 
position, is Palawan.* Situated betwixt the north of 
Borneo and the Philippines, its coast presents to the 
trafficker on the great highway of commerce a series 
of coral reefs which, until laid down with the utmost 
exactness, must occasion the most serious hindrance 
to a safe navigation. “ Each new report of the sur¬ 
vey,” Sir F. Beaufort wrote one day to Bate, “ shows 
us how immeasurably distant from the truth our 
charts were.” To “ prosecute (as the Hydrographer 
expressed it ) the survey of these most difficult waters,” 
Bate was now to devote some of the best years of his 
life. 

* The extreme length of Palawan is 275 miles, its average breadth 
32. Borneo is 780 by 720 ; the largest island (except New Hol¬ 
land) in the world. 


PALAWAN. 


51 


In the month of April (1850), he was off the north 
end of the island, and entered on his trying task. As 
the “ observations ” involved an incessant vigilance 
from his own eye, his scrupulous sense of duty kept 
him on one continuous stretch. The “ private jour¬ 
nal,” recording his daily routine, is in this respect 
one of the most striking documents we have ever seen. 
To narrow souls which can see no glory save in 
the din of arms or in the smoke of battle, such la¬ 
bours may seem poor and inglorious; but Bate con¬ 
fided, for the real advancement of civilisation, less in 
bullets than in the removal of all barriers to mutual 
confidence and intercourse ; and therefore he did not 
grudge the toil and the harassments of these years. 

One day, after “ beating up through the channel 
formed by the north-east side of Palawan and the 
islands fronting it,” he landed on “ a small coral reef, 
ten feet high,” to obtain a bearing; and, at night, on one 
of the small islands, he bivouacked “ under a blanket 
on the beach.” Whilst on the reef, he observed 
“ within pistol-shot ” several whales, “ both common 
and sperm ; ” as many as twenty being counted in 
one day. On shore, the island was “ thickly wooded, 
and without much jungle;” and, in the course of a 
little stroll, they came upon some hogs, besides 
observing, in the distance, as darkness came on, 

several small fires.” 

Another day, they “ hove to and communicated 
with a little place called Santa Monica,” where they 
found “ about five-and-twenty houses, built upon piles, 



52 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

after the Malay fashion, and containing a population of 
forty or fifty souls.” Entering a building “ situated on 
a mound which made a conspicuous mark on the 
coast line,” they were astonished to observe at one 
extremity “ a figure of the Virgin Mary.” The 
people were <e a sort of half-caste Manilla, nominally 
under the Spanish flag, and paying annually to that 
government one dollar per man.” Some pigs, fowls, 
and cocoa-nuts were met with ; but the natives 
ef showed little desire to part with them.” 

Some days later, in communicating with the shore, 
the vessel “ passed from twenty to fourteen fathoms; ” 
and, <s on heaving to, the next cast was ten,” whilst, 

close in shore of that, the gig struck upon one fa¬ 
thom.” The same day, the cutter had traversed the 
coast a considerable distance southward, and had 
found the shore “ fronted with coral reefs.” The 
next afternoon, in running for an anchorage, the vessel 
Cf grounded on a reef, but bumped over it without 
holding.” And, a day or two afterwards, the depth 
suddenly varied from one hundred and fifty fathoms 
to twenty, and then to nine; cc this great and sudden 
change occurring within a distance of two or three 
cables, and when the vessel had little more than 
steerage-way.” “ What a stupendous wall,” he adds, 
—upwards of six hundred feet high ! ” The dis¬ 
tance of this spot from the nearest shore was “ only 
three and a half miles.” 

Not unfrequently, “ at points where from the nu¬ 
merous reefs it would have been exceedingly hazard- 


INCIDENTS OF THE SURVEY. 


53 


oils to venture in the ship/’ they organised little ex¬ 
peditions, “ with the pinnace and gig, and a week or 
two’s provisions;” and on these occasions they en¬ 
countered often the most harassing labours in “climb¬ 
ing to the summits of hills for the purpose of obser¬ 
vations.” In one of his official letters, he alludes 
incidentally to such occasions thus:—“ I forward a 
box containing two mountain-barometers, which have 
received damage from the difficult ascents to some of 
the mountains up which they were taken.” 

At various distances, averaging about fifteen miles, 
along the coast, they found “ small settlements, with a 
population each of some hundred and fifty souls, speak¬ 
ing a Spanish patois, and acknowledging allegiance 
to that flag.” They generally had selected a site 
“commandino; the immediately neighbouring land and 
enclosed in a kind of rude stockade.” A small por¬ 
tion of the ground was cleared, upon which they 
grew rice, sweet potatoes, and tobacco, — but little 
more than sufficed for their own consumption. The 
people were employed in collecting tortoise-shells, 
bees’ wax, and trapang. A slight traffic was carried on 
with the contiguous settlements by means of canoes, 
in the bows of which a brass swivel or three-pound gun 
was generally to be seen, to protect them from the 
Moroos, a piratical tribe that made occasional in¬ 
cursions from the southward in large bodies. “I 
imagine,” he writes, “ that they are Bornean pirates, 
who carry on a systematic course of plunder here as 
elsewhere; for, wherever we have been, the people 


54 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

have invariably expressed themselves as continually 
labouring under anxiety from them.” 

The houses were constructed of wood, and built 
upon piles raised eight or ten feet from the ground. 
In the rainy season they spoke of being visited by a 
sickness somewhat resembling the cholera or black 
vomit. They had no medical man ; and, on the ques¬ 
tion being put to the person administering the Govern¬ 
ment at Taiti how he managed when taken ill, he 
carelessly replied, “ Oh! God is my doctor.” 

Proceeding southward, they found the Spanish ele¬ 
ment gradually disappear, until they came upon a 
population of pure Malay. “ They are remarkably 
plain,” he says ; “ and their expression of countenance 
betokens a complete absence of intellectual endow¬ 
ments. They make themselves, if possible, more 
hideous by the constant application of the betel-nut. 
The hair is long, and jet-black ; the men allowing it 
to fall over their shoulders and back—which gives 
them a shocking appearance — and the women gather¬ 
ing it all into a knot at the back of the head. The men’s 
clothing consists merely of the chawat; but the per¬ 
son who styled himself the chief had on a Spanish 
shirt in addition. The women’s attire is a coloured 
cotton garment, passed tightly round the waist and 
reaching to the knees. Whilst some of the women 
are in figure most perfect, others again present an 
unsightly spectacle, arising from a scorbutic affection 
which prevails greatly, and disfigures the whole frame. 
Stock,” he adds, “is plentiful, the people evidencing 



ll.Adlard, sc 












































NATIVES. 


55 


every desire to give what little they possessed, eac*h 
woman who visited the ship bringing a fowl in her 
arms for a present.” 

Bate had a singular tact in managing men, his 
ruling maxim being to treat even the rudest and 
humblest with a respectful, considerate kindness. One 
day, a boat’s company was “in shore” surveying, whilst 
the ship was doing some work further off. As they 
pulled along the coast, a party of armed natives was 
observed on the beach. Directing their course close 
to the shore, they displayed an English red ensign, 
which, from its colour, the natives interpreted into a 
symbol of determined hostility. A very reserved 
communication, however, was effected, but sufficient 
to discover the source of the mistake. At once the 
visitors yielded to their prejudices, and substituted 
always afterwards for the obnoxious red a white en- 

%f 

sign. “ This,” says he, “ won their confidence ; and 
a most friendly intercourse ensued.” 

A visit was paid, one morning, to the Datoo or Malay 
chief. His house lay about a mile in-shore, and was 
approached by a pathway cut through a thick jungle 
and crossed at several points by a meandering stream 
of clear fresh water. “Emerging from the jungle,” 
he writes, “ we opened into an extensive cultivated 
plain, upon which were growing rice, Indian corn, 
water-melons, yams, and a variety of fruits and vege¬ 
tables,— in full realisation of what we had hitherto 
only been able to obtain glimpses of through our 
telescopes. The Datoo’s dwelling was a complete 


56 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

specimen of the residence of a Malay chief. It was 
filled with warlike weapons of every description, even 
a Tower flint-lock musket. He and his people, who 
number upwards of five thousand, are all Moham¬ 
medans.” 

He found also a few of the aborigines, who were 
living on terms of amity with the people, some of them 
even beino; in the service of the Datoo. The tribe 
were at some distance in the mountains, in a state of 
nudity, subsisting upon hogs or whatever they could 
find, and not molesting in any way their neighbours 
below. The specimens he saw were “ short and thick¬ 
set, having an oval form of face but sharp features, 
and in colour approaching the negro.” They wor¬ 
shipped “ a plurality of gods.” Their weapons were 
the “ blow-pipe,” through which they “project, by 
condensing their breath, small poisoned arrowsand 
also the spear, and the kris ; and they were seldom 
to be seen unaccompanied by either the one or the 
other. 

The general aspect of the country, he describes 
thus : —“ The whole island of Palawan is excessively 
mountainous, the peaks attaining an elevation of 
several thousand feet, and some of them disposed very 
capriciously. Advancing northward, again, along a 
straight line of coast in some parts and deep bays in 
others, the land assumed a different look. The hieh 

O 

mountain-ranges, instead of sending their ridges and 
spires close down to the sea, were generally fronted 


A BIVOUAC. 


o7 


bv extensive tracts of low alluvial land ; and the nu- 
merous light-green patches, stretching away up the 
hills, and the park-like scenery which bounded their 
bases, bore testimonv to the fact of our being in a 
very populous district.” 

One afternoon on shore, “the peaks evidencing no 
symptoms of showing out,” the surveying party pre¬ 
pared to bivouac for the night. They “ rigged a 
small hurricane-house — lighted a large pile of wood 
— drew up the boat — and made all snug ; then, 
supper over and a few songs sung round the c blazing 
hearth,’ things gradually subsided, and midnight 
found them all asleep except the man on the look¬ 
out.” At one a.m. they were roused by a blast of 
wind and rain from the north. “ I had to c bout 
ship,’ ” he writes, “with my hurricane-house; and 
the men found good shelter by stowing the canoe 
bottom uppermost. It rained till daylight; and, in 
our altered circumstances, we slept till sunrise, when, 
just as it cleared off*, the peaks all showed out quite 
plain, and, by eight o’clock, the necessary observa¬ 
tions for determining the position of the island and 
carrying on the triangulation (or connection) to the 
south-westward were obtained.” And he adds: — 
“ At two P.M. I left the island, having first erected a 
station-pole, and attached a bottle to the base of it, in 
which a paper was placed, bearing the following noti¬ 
fication:—‘H.M.S. Royalist, Commander W. T. Bate, 
Royal Navy, visited the Island in the gig, and slept 


58 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


here on the night of the 15th July, 1850, and left 
July 16, having obtained observations. All with 
thanks to a gracious and good Providence. W. T. B.’” 

Seldom a week passed without some marked mercy 
from Him who holds in His hand the winds and 
waves. <f When off a small inlet,” he writes, re¬ 
cording one of those interpositions, “ we observed to 
sea-ward a strong rippling which approached the ship 
rapidly, the wind being light at the time. It came at 
right angles to the shore, and would have swept the 
vessel into a critical position; but providentially at 
this juncture a three-knot breeze sprang up, which 
enabled the vessel to c hold her own ’ until the 
strength of it had passed. The vessel,” he adds, 
“ was within its influence about ten minutes ; and its 
progressive rate may be estimated at three to four 
miles an hour. It impinged upon the shore, in 
a manner similar in effect to that of a wave caused 
by a paddle-steamer.” 

Another day, when on their way to Labuan, they 




were within two miles of its northern extremity, steer¬ 
ing for an anchorage at five knots an hour, when sud¬ 
denly the vessel i( struck upon a rock not laid down 
in any chart.” It was low water at the time, and “the 
ship’s keel gave two bumps, and she passed clear.” ^ 
It was after a brief sojourn that autumn at Singa¬ 
pore, and when on his way back to Palawan “ to ex¬ 
amine and fix the positions of the various shoals 
fringing that highway for all vessels adopting the 
eastern passage to China, when late in the north-east 


















TIIE SHIP UPON A EEEF, 


59 


monsoon/' that an incident occurred which illustrated 
most strikingly at once God’s preserving care of him, 
and his own able seamanship. 

At dusk, one evening, as a heavy squall was about 
to hurst upon them, they were making all speed to 
get hold of the land, and were already drawing over 
to the Balaban shore, when suddenly breakers were 
reported ahead, and the ship struck upon a coral reef. 
She passed easily half her length over it, hut fixed 
amidships. The position was very critical. The 
night was now intensely dark, and a swell was setting 
in from the north-west; and the vessel bumped 
slightly. By and by the tide left her perfectly quiet, 
though her inclination was considerable; but, at two 
in the morning, she became “quite lively,” at times 
receiving some severe shocks. After an unsuccessful 
attempt to heave her off, “ she continued to thump 
violently during the remainder of the night, occasion¬ 
ally unshipping and reshipping the rudder.” 

As day broke, the tide commenced falling, and the 
vessel bumped less violently,—when, rather suddenly, 
she “ fell over to port, having four feet under the 
bow, and eleven feet astern.” All hands were now 
employed to lighten her, “ one party discharging bal¬ 
last and depositing it very cleverly clear of the ves¬ 
sel’s bows by means of a shoot rigged from the fore¬ 
castle, and which received the name of the c patent 
railroad;’ others constructing a raft of all the available 
spars for the purpose of receiving the wet provisions 
and other heavy articles; whilst the remainder were 


60 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN AV. T. BATE, R.N. 


variously employed in starting water and clearing 
holds.” 

It was now low water, and the A^essel had five feet 
under her how, and seven astern, having been re¬ 
lieved to the extent of some five-and-twenty tons. 
As evening came on and the tide again rose, she 
“ gave some terrific bumps and the “ stream anchor 
and chain was kept at a fair strain, in order to start 
her, as the swell came in, from the bed of broken 
coral which she had made for herself.” At one in 
the morning it was high water, and “ the chain was 
hove upon to move her,” but without success. At 
last, after two violent shocks, she began to “ rise and 
fall with the swell without touching the ground and, 
in another quarter of an hour, she was riding in four 
fathoms, secured head and stern. The next forenoon 
they picked up twelve feet of her main keel ,— <e the 
only damage sustained in the misadventure.” 

Alluding to this scene, Captain Collinson writes: — 
“ On one of the numerous coral reefs the A-essel was 
nearly lost, being saved solely by the admirable man¬ 
ner in which her commander constructed a raft.” 

A few Aveeks aftenvards Bate was at Honcr-Konc for 
repairs, and met his friend in the Enterprise, on 
his Avay to the Arctic Seas. “ I had the pleasure on 
that occasion,” Captain Collinson adds, “ of spending 
six weeks with him. We sailed for Behrino-’s Straits 

O 

on the 1st of April, and he accompanied me outside 
the harbour some distance. A few days afterwards, 
happening to look up, I found something Avritten on 


THE CABIN-WRITING. 


61 


the beam overhead in the cabin. On examination, I 
deciphered it thus,— c Numb. vi. 24—26; April 1st, 
1851. W. T. B.’* I need not say that the inscrip¬ 
tion remained intact. And, four years afterwards, I 
had the gratification of showing it to him at Sheer¬ 
ness, and of telling him that his prayer had been 
heard.” 

This incident, trifling in itself, is pregnant with 
meaning. The lonely nights on those lonely shores 
had been brightened by the lamp of God. Another 
day will declare how, as he searched the Scriptures, 
and £f thought upon His name,” the Lord registered 
in His <e book of remembrance” many a memorial of 
his heavenly aspirations. And this it was, moreover, 
which made him so calm and self-possessed in every 
emergency: he feared his God, and he had no other 

O t/ J 

fear. 

* The words are,—“ The Lord bless thee, and keep thee ! The 
Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee! 
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace 1 ” 



















CHAPTER VI. 


Palawan. — The “Moving Island.” — “Coat of Mail.” — Native 
Characteristics.— Scenery. — A Vulture and Snake. — Village. 
— A Native Luxury.—Egg Hunting.— “Court-house.”—How 
they punish. —Retreat. — Handloom-Weaving. — The Craft. — 
“ Plunging.”—Sail-splitting.—Night-watch.—The Emblem.—Live 
upon Mercy.—An Escape.—A Retrospect.—Thankfulness.—“ An 
unprofitable Servant.” 


“ Here unmolested, thro’ whatever sign 
The sun proceeds, I wander. Neither mist, 
Nor sultry sky, . . checking me ; 

Nor stranger intermeddling with my joy. 



65 


In the course of the month of April, the Royalist 
was again at Palawan. 

One clay, as they sailed along its western coast, a 
white flag was observed upon the beach, and shortly 
afterwards a canoe, with a similar banner, paddling 
off towards them. On reaching the ship, the visitors 
“ went up her side; ” and great was their amazement 
at the “moving island,” which at first sight they had 
taken her for. Bate welcomed them, as he always 
did, with kindness; though it was not easy at first to 
disabuse their minds of a certain suspicion of hosti¬ 
lity which had been excited by the “clothes” on the 
strangers’ bodies, it being the custom of the natives 
in a time of war to cover their nakedness with “ a 
coat of mail.” One of the men had his head completely 
shorn; and the other had long black hair, with a 
handkerchief bound round the head. Their dress 
consisted of trowsers and jacket, very similar in cut 

F 


66 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, It.N, 


to tlie Chinese, but not quite so loose; and the mate¬ 
rial was canvas and jean, instead of the common blue 
cot >n of China,” Firmness rather than benevolence 
was developed in the structure of their heads ; and 
thei,: eyes were exceedingly wide apart, causing an 
apparent hollow in the temples. The “ facial angle” 
was acute, the features sharp, and the mouth very 
large, with “ an unenviable row of teeth stained with 
betel-root.” 

Another day, they came in sight of a mountain 
13,000 feet high, the summit quite barren, and the 
rocks of a columnar form, one or two rising above 
the general range in large pinnacles. The prevailing 
feature of the coast was that of broken ranges of hills, 
varying in moderate height, and fronted here and 
there by sand-bays and rocky projections. Several 
birds were observed flying about the ship; and a 
species of swallow flew on board, apparently quite 
tame. A vulture, too, which had accompanied the 
ship for some four-and-twenty hours, perched upon 
the main-top gallant yard with a sea-snake in its 
claws, and let it fall upon deck, but soon returned 
with a second, which it also let go, though not until 
it had very much mutilated it, every bone being sepa¬ 
rated and its head perforated. 

A morning or two later, they visited a village, 
lying “ in the bottom of a bay,” and recognisable by 
t( a large building with a red roof, and a church-spire 
rising from its south gable.” The population num¬ 
bered about five hundred; and the place abounded 


A NATIVE LUXURY. 


67 


with pigs and fowls, besides several buffaloes. 'On 
the margin of the beach stood “an old redoubt;” 
and the church appeared to have been original a 
fortress, having at its extremity a very old ca di¬ 
lated tower. The land was very fertile, and affoided 
great facility for irrigation ; but they did not seen to 
get from it more than a single crop in the year. 

On another occasion, he set out in the gig, “ to com¬ 
plete the southern faces of some of the outer islands.” 
“ The formation of the group,” he writes, (e is 
limestone, rising quite perpendicularly from the sea, 
and terminating in very sharp pinnacles. The sides 
of the cliffs assume various colours ; and, with the 
number of caves and deep recesses occurring through¬ 
out, together with the beautiful foliage shooting out 
in every direction, the whole forms one of the most 
magnificent sights I have ever seen in Nature. Some 
of the cliffs, undermined by the sea to an extent of 
fifteen or twenty feet, impend to an alarming degree 
when viewed from a position immediately underneath 
them. Among the various birds seen hovering 
about them, is one resembling a swallow, whose nest 
is so eagerly sought after, that it forms an extensive 
article of traffic throughout the eastern archipelago. 
The natives move about in very small canoes to 
collect it. They go under one of these impending 
cliffs, and with marvellous dexterity ascend the face 
of them, crawling in and out of the crevices in 
search of the nest. Nearly every cliff bears traces 
of their assiduity in hunting for this luxury; for 


68 MEMOIR OE CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


pieces of bamboo, with long lines attached, may be 
seen, everywhere, thrust into the rock for the purpose 
of facilitating their ascent.” 

Some weeks afterwards, he visited a village u very 
prettily situated immediately under a high precipi¬ 
tous limestone cliff full of caverns and crevices and 
interspersed with beautiful sprigs of foliage.” On. 
landing, they were met by “ a square stockade, with 
four brass guns — one of four pounds calibre — 
showing through ports about twenty feet from the 
ground.” Immediately in the rear was a large house, 
the residence of the chief; and, a little further back, 
the “ Court-house,” which was furnished with 
u stocks, a wooden shoe, and a terrible six-tailed 
scourge made out of buffalo-hide,” which is adminis¬ 
tered by “ laying the culprit prone with his face to the 
ground, securing his ankles in the stocks, and then 
inflicting on his bare posteriors as many as tw’enty- 
five lashes.” Still further to the rear was a gallery, 
leading to a crevice immediately under a high cliff; 
and, ascending a bamboo ladder, the party found 
themselves in “ a cavern in the side of the cliff fifty 

V 

or sixty feet from the ground”—a place of refuge to 
which the natives retreated on being surprised by an 
enemy. Returning to the village, they saw hand- 
looms and spinning-wheels, on which the women 
were manufacturing, from materials grown on the 
spot, fabrics for home-use. 

The miserable craft was a source of constant 
discomfort. “ In the strength of the squalls,” he 


NIGHT-WATCH— THE EMBLEM. 


69 


writes, one day, 44 the vessel remains moderately 
steady, occasionally giving one or two heavy plunges ; 
but, immediately the wind relaxes, she jumps and 
rolls about tremendously. This was the case all last 
night, and particularly when the wind came off the 
land.” And, another day : — 44 Our sails are con¬ 
stantly splitting, and the roping giving way. So 
little are our sails to be trusted, in case we require 
them to extricate the ship out from difficulties which 
are constantly to be apprehended, that it is a perpe¬ 
tual occasion of anxiety to me.” And, again, thus :— 
44 At 10.30, a most violent squall burst upon us. It 
caught the vessel a little on her broadside, and made 
her careen several degrees. The night was dark ; 
and torrents of rain fell. Whilst walking the deck, 
expecting every moment the cable would part, how 
frequently did the thought of the 4 anchor ’ as the 
beautiful emblem of 4 hope ’ occur to my mind 1 ” 

It was thus he calmly reposed day by day in his 
God. 

“ Holy teachings have been with thee, whisperings of the world to 
come — 

Song of angels—gleams of glory—glimpses of thy heavenly home.” 

And new occasions were continually arising for 
adoring the Lord’s preserving care. 

A party landed one afternoon on 44 three-peaked 
island,” to take observations. Ascending the peaks, 
they found the rocks so steep and the footing so un¬ 
certain, that, 44 to secure the safety of their lives as 


TO MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


well as of the instruments, he determined to have the 
boat’s cable bent on to a palm tree near the summit;” 
and, accordingly, a sailor proceeded upward with the 
rope, the commander immediately behind, until it 
was properly made fast. “ I was sitting,” Bate writes, 
(( on the edge of the cliff about fifty feet in height, 
when suddenly the gig’s crew from below called out 
to me to £ take care for a heavy piece of rock, which 
had vielded to the man’s foot who was climbing above 
me, was coming down by the run. With the caution, 
I received upon my head a violent blow which cut it 
open. Providentially I had on a hat (helmet-shape) 
of considerable thickness: otherwise, if not killed on 
the spot, I must have been knocked senseless over the 
precipice.” 

A month elapsed ; and he writes:—“ At 1 p.M. 
to-day, we saw Balaban peak ; and glad was I to be¬ 
hold it. We have now well nigh got to the end of 
Palawan ; and we may soon look forward to receiving 
our letters. God’s Providential care has been singu- 
larly manifested towards us. We have been pre¬ 
served from many dangers, seen and unseen. We 
have not lost one of our number either from accident 
or from sickness. And our work has been attended 
with peculiar blessings. Everything whereunto we 
have put our hand has prospered ; and this, not by 
our own wisdom, but by the grace of Him who has 
said, £ Commit thy works to the Lord, and thv thoughts 
shall be established.’ ” 

And, a week or two later, he adds: — 


“ It was this 


-1 
< X 


“AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT.” 

day two years that I embarked on board the Peninsu¬ 
lar and Oriental steamer Ripon (Captain Moresby) 
at Southampton for Hong-Kong in order to take up 
my present command. The time has passed rapidly; 
and many incidents, which will ever be fresh in my 
recollection, have occurred in the period. My public 
duties, I trust, have been discharged in a manner 
satisfactory to those who entrusted me with the exe¬ 
cution of them. I wish I could say the same of my 
duties to my Heavenly King. I am not conscious of 
ever giving satisfaction; for, even if I had done all, 
I should still be an unprofitable servant.” 




<» 




. 






CHAPTER VII. 


Give me to Drink.”—Small-pox on board.—Unselfishness.—Illness. 
— Letter to a little Boy. — “ Not for Worlds.”—Now. — Sir Ed¬ 
ward Parry. —Prayer-union—Motto.— Pirates.— Hair’s-breadth 
Escape.—“ LookDeathin the face.”—A Reef.— Ship in Danger.— 
Labuan.—Coal-Measure. — Survey.— Scene on Shore.—A Night 
in the Jungle.—“Reciprocated Duties.”—Friendly Sympathies.— 
—A Christmas Effusion.—“A Patch on your Back. ”—A “ Father.” 


“ With all its caves, 

Its hollow glens, its thickets, and its plains, 
Unvisited by man.” 


75 


Tt is a touching thought which a living writer has 
uttered — 

“ Hark ! what is that voice I hear ? 

Whose can be that prayer, 

Daily sounding in mine ear, 

Give me to drink? 

“ May I ever recognise 
Thee, in Thine, before mine eyes, 

When their destitution cries, 

Give me to drink! 

“ May each suppliant at my door, 

Shelterless, unclothed, or poor, 

Yainly urge that prayer no more, 

Give me to drink ! ” 

Bate’s daily life was that thought translated into 
action. In the spring of 1852, as the Royalist lay off 
Hong-Kong undergoing repairs, the small-pox broke 
out on board, to the great consternation of the ship's 


76 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


company. The first seized was the clerk ; and, to pre¬ 
vent the infection spreading amongst the crew, the 
captain actually had him removed into his own cabin ! 
He had scarcely recovered, when Bate himself caught 
the disease, and desired to be taken on shore to hospi¬ 
tal. “ The men,” says an eye-witness, a were most 
of them in tears, as our beloved commander was put 
into the boat; for he had every appearance of having 
it severely.” 

A month or six weeks afterwards, he wrote to a 
young relative in England :—“ I am sure you must 
have come to the conclusion that I had quite forgotten 
you. I have only just been mercifully raised up from 
a bed of sickness, having had a severe attack of small¬ 
pox. I am still very weak, and cannot write so long a 
letter as you deserve or as I wish. Do you remember 
our walks, wasps’ nests, kite-flying, and all those 
happy little amusements? I do often; and they bring, 
each of them, many pleasing associations. We shall all 
be too old and big to enjoy them again, I fear. I hope 
you are all well. I hope you are thankful for the health 
you enjoy. I feel my sickness has been a great bless¬ 
ing to me; and I would not have been without it for 
worlds. I trust it has made me a better man, and led 
me to consider more seriously how little we are pro¬ 
fited if we gain the whole world and lose our own 
souls; for what is there in the world which we would 
barter our souls for? Let me entreat you to f re¬ 
member now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,’ 
and not to put it off, as many do, till a more con- 


SIR EDWARD PARRY. 


77 


venient season. God is better pleased when young 
people dedicate themselves to Him, than He is when 
they only give the mutilated fragments of old age to 
Him. God bless you !” 

As he lay on his sick-bed, he had received from a 
kindred spirit in England a letter which greatly 
comforted him. ‘Aou will see,” wrote Sir Edward 
Parry, “ that I have taken a liberty with your name 
which I venture to think you will excuse. Although 
the current of life, and its necessary business, goes so 
fast as to allow us little time for correspondence, we 
(at Haslar) beg you to believe that we ever and very 
often think of you with sentiments of affectionate 
esteem. As time goes on, and eternity is nearer at 
hand, we cling more closely to the e little flock,’ the 
c household of faith,’ the faithful followers of a cruci¬ 
fied and risen Redeemer. May the Lord be ever with 
you to keep and bless you! I see, by the List, that 
two years and a half of the Royalist’s commission 
have expired, so that I trust it may not be very long 
ere you bend your steps homeward. Lady Parry and 
all our Christian circle unite with me in every good 
wish at this blessed season.” 

The enclosure was “a proposed Union for Prayer 
for the promotion of Religion in Her Majesty’s Navy,” 
and suggested “ that every Sunday morning betwixt 
Seven and Eleven the spiritual wants of the Navy 
should be brought before the throne of grace, that 
all orders of men in the Naval Service from the 
highest to the lowest might be led to a serious con- 


78 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 


cern for their souls and for the spiritual welfare of 
their fellow-men ; and in particular that officers might 
entertain a just sense of their high responsibility as 
regards the spiritual as well as temporal interests of 
those over whom the ) 7 are placed, exercising a spirit 
of wisdom, justice, love, and a sound mind.’ 

So to live, was Bate’s own unceasing aim. On the 
fly-leaf of each of his Journals he has this motto: — 

“ And is this all ? Can reason do no more, 

Than bid me shun the deep, and dread the shore? 

Sweet moralist! Afluat on life’s rough sea, 

The Christian has an art unknown to thee: 

He holds no parley with unmanly fears ; 

Where duty bids, he confidently steers, 

Faces a thousand dangers at her call, 

And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all.” 

And the motto was engraven on his very inmost heart. 
“ Quiet and retiring,” says Captain Collinson, “ his 
charity was like his faith, ever working, but so 
silently that you came upon it by accident.” His 
godliness was a part of himself—a thing in him, and 
not needing to be put on. We shall by and by see 
how legible to all the “ living epistle ” at length 
became. 

Scarcely had he again reached the old scene of his 
labours, when an incident occurred which he used to 
regard as one of his most hair’s-breadth escapes. One 
evening, some months afterwards, on revisiting the 
spot, a little party was pulling ashore; and Bate, 
recalling the incident, and turning to an officer 















4 













PIRATES—HAIR’S-BREADTII ESCAPE. 79 

who in the interval had joined them, said : — “ The 
gig had been absent all the morning in the head of 
the bay (leaving the ship to cruise), when, on her 
return, she was chased by seven large prahms full of 
pirates, who had been hidden amongst the mangrove 
bushes. All the ammunition had become damp ; and 
the only resource was to escape as quickly as possible. 
The prahms at last were gradually stealing on the 
wearied crew, and, with fierce shouts and yells, were 
making sure of their prey, when most opportunely 
the Royalist hove in sight. This caused them to put 
about; and they were quickly hidden amongst these 
islets.” And he added, with a peculiar emphasis : — 
“ Always live so, that, when death approaches, you 
can look him in the face: then there is nothing to 
fear.” 

A week or two later, he had an escape of another 
kind. It was a squally morning, and their last cast 
had given fifteen fathoms, when suddenly the vessel 
was on the edge of a shoal, the depth now seven 
fathoms, and “ rocks distinctly visible under the 
bottom.” Within a few cables of her lee-beam was 
the “ light green water, and the wind and swell 
setting her fast towards it.” Not a moment was to 
be lost. “ Caught dead upon the weather-side of a 
reef,” the ship “ lay like a log upon the water.” 
“ Sail had to be made,” he writes, “and way given 
to her before we could stay. There was no room to 
wear, and every instant the rocks under us looked 
nearer, the soundings also confirming it. By God’s 


80 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


providence, we skirted the very edge of the reef with¬ 
out touching, and tacked. We soon deepened our 
water; and thankful indeed we were for this deliver¬ 
ance from a position eminently critical. Had we 
touched the ground, our case would have been 
hopeless, as each succeeding swell must have car¬ 
ried the vessel further on, if it did not break us to 
pieces.” 

On his way, he had touched at Labuan, anchoring 
off “ Coal Point.” Goino; on shore to examine the 
coal-measure, he found a large quantity of coal stacked 
near the jetty ; it “ looked very good, resembling our 
Newcastle,” with not quite so much gas, but in other 
respects almost equalling it. Three hundred labourers 
were employed at eightpence a-day, and they had 
dug up 1080 tons during the last month. The 
Peninsular and Oriental Company had made a con¬ 
tract to be supplied with 400 tons monthly, the price 
twenty shillings per ton. “ I think,” he writes, “ it 
only wants a little more energy on the part of the 
Eastern Archipelago Company, or its agents, to make 
these mines a considerable source of profit to them¬ 
selves and advantageous to the island generally.” 

The survey was vigorously prosecuted, notwith¬ 
standing the incessant perils and harassments. At 
eight o’clock,” he writes, for example, one day, Cf the 
dingy was despatched to ascertain the practicability of 
landing, as it was my intention to sleep on shore, so 
as to be ready for the observations on the morrow. 
Soon after, we landed all our gear, amidst an incessant 


NIGHT IN THE JUNGLE. 


81 


rain, and the sea breaking heavily. It was rather a 
laborious task, having to wade with our traps through 
water up to our waists over a very uneven coral bot¬ 
tom.” And, after getting “ some good observations,” 
he adds:—“ At 7, just as we had finished dinner 
and were about to make all snug for the night, the 
water showed symptoms of flowing as far as our tent. 
At 7.30 we were obliged to take everything out and 
deposit them in the jungle near the fire. Frequent 
rain-squalls were passing over; and at last we were 
fairly driven into the jungle by the tide. We sat in 
the j ungle the greater part of the night round a fire, 

with showers of rain occasionallv to refresh us.” 

*/ 

Cowper, in one of his odes, writes — 

“ Who seek a friend should come disposed 
To exhibit, in full bloom disclosed, 

The graces and the beauties 
That form the character he seeks, 

For ’tis a union that bespeaks 
Reciprocated duties.” 

Bate had the happy art of winning the affections of 
all who were about him; and he did it unconsciously 
by his own warm, friendly sympathies. “Numerous 
were the kindnesses,” says a shipmate, referring to 
this period, “ which he never lost an opportunity of 
showing whenever a chance occurred. Even when 
a man was reported to him, he gained him, by his 
good advice and by his own consistent walk, to ac¬ 
knowledge his fault; and rarely was it repeated.” 

Christmas was always a merry day on board : and, 

G 




82 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


that year, it produced an effusion which the reader 
will not grudge to peruse in the full proportions of its 
own rough Doric:— 

“ Sir, 

“An opportunity offering, which we have all been 
anxiously waiting for, viz., (Christmas day) — for ex¬ 
pressing a few of our sentiments, and deeming this the 
most propitious time of the year, which, in accordance 
with the custom of our good old ancient times, we are happy 
to say has been handed down from our forefathers and 
has fortunately not degenerated, but we trust in accord¬ 
ance with the rising generation, the feelings have be¬ 
come more susceptible of the obligations we owe for any 
acts of kindness shewn us, the kindly feelings and good 
will of our superiors have been duly appreciated by us all. 
It has been our lot to sail with many Captains, not one 
of whom is fit to be a patch on your back. The fatherly 
treatment we have always received from you whilst we 
have had the pleasure of serving under you, and which 
never can be equalled, will always be remembered by us 
all. Although many hardships, which necessarily belong 
to the duty we are now engaged on, must be met with,— 
it is greatly lessened when we see that our noble, true¬ 
hearted, and ever-respected Commander endures as much, 
and infinitely far greater, than those, whose humble lot 
it is, whose heart and soul, goes with these few lines. 

“ As another instance of your great goodness, which is, 
as each succeeding morning dawns, brings forth fresh 
lustres to the receding day, so is every fresh act of yours. 

“ The present that you have so handsomely made us, 


A CHRISTMAS EFFUSION. 


83 


wherewith to cheer our Christmas board, is greatly ap¬ 
preciated by us all. 

“We beg the acceptance of the accompanying trifle *, as 
a slight token for our regard and esteem. We earnestly 
hope you will enjoy a merry and a happy Christmas, and 
a New Year when it comes. May your health be good and 
your happiness as great, the survey you are now employed 
on be soon and satisfactorily finished, speedy promotion, 
and a happy return to Bonny Old England, is the earnest 
wish of 

The Ship’s Company, one and all, 
of 

H. M. S. S. Royalist. 

“ Captain W. T. Bate, Esq., 

II. M. S. S. Royalist, 

North-west Coast of Palawan. ” 


* A beautiful filigree silver card-case of Chinese workmanship. 









CHAPTER VIII. 


A Test.—Lord’s-day.—“A Delight.”—Conflagration.—Catastrophe 
—Natives.— Parleys.— “ The Palace.”—Women — “ Too much 
frightened.”—Malay Infant School. — Feast. — Survey.—Harass - 
ments.— Inner Life. — Preaching. — “ Unworthy Instrument.” — 
Discipline on Board.—“Captain of the Fort.” — “Oh God, how 
good !”—The Craft.— Ordered Home.— The Voyage. — Arrival. 
—Expectations.— Just Claims.— Neglect. — Not cast down.— 
“Kindling Seeds.”— Reminiscence. — Ripening. — “Radiant 
Crown.” ~ 


“ I think not of to-morrow, 

Its trial or its task ; 

But still, with child-like spirit. 
For present mercies ask; 
With each returning morning, 

I cast old things away ; 

Life’s journey lies before me,— 
My prayer is for to-day.” 


87 


“ We may judge,” it has been said, “ by our regard 
for the Sabbath, whether eternity will be forced upon 
us.” Bate loved the Lord’s-day. “ Welcome another 
Sunday,” he writes. “ With what pleasure do I look 
forward to this day of rest! What a merciful provi¬ 
sion it is ! ‘ The Sabbath was made for man ! ’ I 

trust we appreciate it; for our six days are indeed 
spent laboriously, and we need rest for both mind and 
body.” And the usual record follows :—“ Performed 
divine service on deck a.m. and p.m. The day 
passed off with its accustomed quietness.” He loved 
the Lord’s-day, because he loved the Lord Himself; 
and, without forcing his own way on others, they saw 
that he felt it (( a delight.” 

One day, a little party, consisting of an officer and 
four men, went on shore to make observations. As¬ 
cending a conical hill some three hundred feet above 
the level of the sea and denuded of foliage but 

G 4 


88 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


covered with long dry grass, they suddenly found 
themselves pursued by a conflagration, which had 
been kindled by the lighting of a pipe. So rapidly 
did the flames spread, that the party, as a last re¬ 
source, struck over the brow to the left, threw them¬ 
selves into a steep gorge thickly clothed with jungle, 
and were carried to the base of the hill. One poor 
fellow was overtaken by the fire, and, after running 
through it till nature was exhausted, fell and rolled 
over the burning embers down the steep incline a 
distance of two hundred feet. With the exception,” 
Bate writes, “ of a small portion of flannel, every 
particle of clothing was burnt off him ; his feet, hands, 
and knees were lacerated and completely charred; 
nearly the whole of the epidermis was off' the body; 
and the limbs were literally baked and quite stiff. 
The theodolite, which he was carrying, must have 
been burnt off his back; some of the strong frame¬ 
work was broken, and only a few charred fragments 
of the box were picked up. At 3.10 p.m. he w r as 
brought on board, quite naked, but in full possession 
of his senses. He was very restless, jumping in and 
out of bed, and at times suffering intense pain. He 
could not be induced to take medicine, but drank fre¬ 
quently of tea. At five he became more quiet, turned 
upon his right side, and, fifty minutes afterwards, died 
without a struggle. Poor fellow ! he was taken away 
suddenly, thus leaving another warning for us to be 
ready.” 

In the intervals of the surveying operations, he 


PARLEYS — THE PALACE. 


89 


used to enjoy little parleys with the natives. One 
day, t( accompanied by the doctor, the paymaster, 
and young Collinson, he visited a c sultan.’” (e The 
old gentleman,” he writes, <f although suffering from 
rheumatism in his legs, came out to meet me as we 
approached his home. A good shake of the hand 
followed; and we were all soon squatted inside the 
Palace. Seeing that I wore my f kilt ’ out of compli¬ 
ment to him, he immediately sent for the Red Coat, 
and habited himself with it. It had been carefully 
preserved, particularly the epaulettes, which were 
wrapped up most elaborately, first in wool, and then 
in no end of layers of cotton cloth. Being provided 
with a good interpreter, I was able to get some in¬ 
formation about these people. They number about 
five thousand. The Sultan has absolute power, and 
inflicts the punishment of death in cases of adultery 
or of theft. They have no punishments for minor 
offences. The mortality is not great; and the prin¬ 
cipal malady appears to be dropsy, depending on 
disease of the heart or lungs. I saw one poor crea¬ 
ture in a wretched state, suffering from the latter; 
and yet he had a large kris stuck on his sarong with 
all the air of a warrior. Their sickly season is gene¬ 
rally in July and August. They sow their paddy in 
July, and reap in January or February; only one crop 
in the year. We were told that a few months since 
they had been visited by a fleet of pirates, who, how¬ 
ever, had not committed any act of violence. We could 
not induce them to show us their women ; their excuse 


90 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


was, that they are e too much frightened at the white 
men.’ The sultan gave me an excellent specimen of 
a native sword and shield—his own, in fact, which 
he used, and which was taken from his hed-side. 
We returned to the ship at 5 P.M. much pleased with 
our trip.” 

On another occasion, he visited a Malay et Infant 
School.” There were “ some score of naked young 
children going through their devotional and athletic 
exercises.” The schoolmaster was dressed in the 
native costume—a striped blue shirt worn outside 
and a very short pair of drawers. He played the 
tom-tom ; whilst the children finished off with the 
fandango. The mistress wore the sarong of the 
Malays. Bate was so pleased, that he asked them 
off to see the ship; and, next day, two canoes-full 
arrived, and had a grand feast composed of plates of 
raisins, sugar, biscuits, and tea—to them unknown 
luxuries. After having satisfied their curiosity on 
board, they amused the crew with their wild dances, 
wrestling, and sword-exercise, and finished the even¬ 
ing with singing their vesper-hymn. 

During the two following years, he prosecuted his 
labours with an untiring energy and oftentimes under 
the most harassing difficulties. “ Went to bed dead- 
tired,” he writes, for example, one evening. “ The 
heat is very great; and it is most trying work taking- 
up stations exposed to the sun without a breath of 
air.” Then, at other times, he would be out “ ob¬ 
serving the stars,” and not retire to rest for three or 


INNER LIFE —PREACHING, 


91 


four successive nights. And, worse than all, the 
wretched craft was a constant vexation to him, es¬ 
pecially if sickness showed itself. “ With the num¬ 
ber at present on the sick-list,” he says, on one occa¬ 
sion, “ we can scarce find a dry resting-place for 
them; for such is the leaky state of the vessel, that 

the lower deck is flooded in an ordinarv double-reef 

•/ 

topsail breeze.” 

Meanwhile, he was growing, silently hut steadily, 
in grace. Too actively occupied in the realities of 
the daily battle of life, he had no time and no heart to 
“gauge feelings ” or to “ count frames.” But an oc¬ 
casional glimpse is given into the secret springs of his 
inner life. Here is one:—“Performed divine ser¬ 
vice a. m. and p. m. Preached from Ps. xxv. 7., on 
c the sins of our youth.’ Crew attentive, and ap¬ 
peared to listen with eagerness. May the Lord bless 
my feeble labours! Out of the most unworthy 
vessel he can get honour to Himself; and I am sure 
He could not have chosen a worse instrument. I 
trust we all appreciate the Sabbath. How needful 
the day of rest to a surveying vessel! ” 

Elsewhere in his journal are incidental illustrations 
of his firm but considerate discipline. “To-day,” he 
writes, “ I had to investigate seven charges which 
the first lieutenant brought against Mr. Fleming, the 
gunner, for insubordination and violent language. 
He pleaded guilty to all upon my explaining their na¬ 
ture, and expressed much sorrow. I have given him 
some little time to atone for the misconduct; and, if I 


92 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


see it is genuine, I shall overlook it. He is a quiet 
kind of man, but hot-tempered when put out.” And 
another day, he says: — “ I had another case of 
drunkenness amongst the boys brought before me 
this morning. I think this sin and many other 
offences would be less frequent than they are, if the 
Admiralty allowed Captains to exercise their judg¬ 
ment in awarding punishments for them. If judici¬ 
ous chastisement was allowed, sins might be eradicated 
before they made head; whereas now they must be 
fully developed, to authorise the coifimanding officer 
inflicting the only punishment left for him, namely, 
flogging at the gun.” 

Wherever he went, he left among the natives the 
most favourable impression of his kindness. Arriving 
one day at an island which he had visited the pre¬ 
vious year, he found the “ captain of the fort ” ex¬ 
ceedingly attentive and hospitable, and very anxious to 
have an English flag to display at his look-out tower 
whenever an English ship should appear.” And he 
adds: <f There was certainly a marked difference in the 
people’s conduct towards us this time. They appeared 
to have such confidence in us, and treated us as if 
they felt that we were really friends and had given a 
substantial proof of it by liberating two of their 
countrymen and keeping them so long on board with¬ 
out making any charge.. One man said, f Oh God, 
how good ! ’ ” 

The craft grew more and more wretched, until at 
last, in July 1853, he received a despatch from the 


ORDERED HOME — ARRIVAL. 


93 


Admiral announcing the resolution of the Admiralty 
to suspend for the present the survey of the China 
Sea, and to sell the vessel or break her up. On 
arriving at Hong-Kong, she was found capable of 
making the voyage home; and, after a month’s 
handling by Chinese caulkers and European artifi¬ 
cers,” she was on her way with her commander and 
ship’s company to England. 

On the passage he was constantly occupied with 
his charts, reducing into shape and form the vast 
multitude of “ observations ” which he had amassed 
during the Survey ; and, in the end of May (1854), 
he anchored at Spithead, after an arduous service of 
five years, nine months out of every twelve of which 
had been spent “ out of the pale of civilisation.” 

On his arrival, he not unnaturally looked for a 
prompt recognition of his great services. He had 
executed an elaborate Hydrographic Survey of an 
island three hundred miles long, with its harbours 
and adjacent waters, fixing all the mountains and pro¬ 
minent hills visible from the sea. He had been 
Cf strongly recommended ” for promotion by the suc¬ 
cessive Admirals under whom he served, the last 
only withholding it because he “ believed it would 
certainly be given by the home-authorities.” But 
“ he returned to England,” says Captain Collinson, 
“ only again to be subjected to official routine; for, 
though highly commended by the different Comman¬ 
ders-in-chief for the praiseworthy manner in which 
he had performed the onerous duty imposed on him, 


94 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

as well as for the admirable discipline maintained 
in his vessel, he was told there was no promotion for 
him except through the Hydrographer, who has a 
captain’s vacancy at his disposal every second year.” 

The neglect, however, did not cast him down. It 
was noticed that in his absence a peculiar heavenli- 
ness had settled upon him, as if, whilst 

“ Walking by the sea, beneath the gentle stars,” 

not a few “ kindling seeds” of holiness had “ sprouted 
within his soul.” The writer well remembers that 
calm and heavenly mien, and the unmurmuring pa¬ 
tience of his manly but meek spirit during those two 
dreary years. He felt the neglect, and felt it bitterly; 
but the rod was in the hand of his Father in heaven, 
and the discipline was quickly ripening him for the 
glory he was so soon to enter. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Way of Duty. — How to settle it. — The Bittern.— Setting out.— 
Last Glimpse. — Parting Words. — Intercession. — Coming Rest. 
—Consolations.— Adieu to England. — Voyage out. — Incidents 
on Board. — Gibraltar. — Alexandria. — Suez. — “ Man’s Chief 
End.”—Red Sea. — Aden. — “One of St. Paul’s Men.”—Point 
de Galle.—Country Drive. — Penang.— Malacca. — Singapore.— 
Old Shipmate. — “Best Gift.”—Opium Traffic.— Captains and 

Shoals. — Hong-Kong_Old Friends. — Loochoa Mission. — 

Chinese Characteristics.— German Missionary. — Takes command 
of Bittern. 


“ Thy tried and lonely spirit 
Thirsts for the living God, 

And pleads alone the merit 
Of rich, redeeming blood. 

“ Take np a song of gladness 

While smarting ’neath the rod ; 
Triumphant over sadness, 

Witness before thy God.” 


97 


“ Will you, each of you, make it a special subject of 
prayer for direction as to the course I should pursue ? 
Then, come what will, I know it will be w T ell.” Such 
were Bate’s words to his sisters, on returning from 
the Admiralty one afternoon in January *, not a 
little perplexed as to the way of duty. After occu¬ 
pying many months in completing his charts and in 
compiling sailing-directions for them, he had been 
allowed to exchange from the Surveying-department 
into the general service, in the hope of working out 
more speedily his promotion; and, receiving soon 
afterwards a nomination to the “Mariner” in the West 
Indies, he had gone down to W hitehall to take up his 
appointment, when a vacancy which had just occurred 
in the command of the “ Bittern”—a vessel of sixteen 
guns, stationed in the Chinese waters — was unex- 


* 1856 . 
H 


98 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 


pectedly offered to him, with only two days to decide. 
Neither position vms at all such as he had a right 
to expect; but, unwilling to remain longer idle, he 
chose the Bittern, and at once prepared to set out. 

It was the last glimpse which his friends were to 
have of him ; and it almost seemed as if a presentiment 
had taken possession of him that he should “ see their 
face no more.” They remember now a certain in¬ 
describable solemnity which marked those parting 
hours. Not accustomed to say much, he yet had a 
parting word for each. 

“ Thank-for her kind message,” he wrote to 

one ; “ I shall indeed esteem it a great privilege to be 
remembered by her at the throne of grace ; and I do 
pray she may never forget me in her supplications to 
God, for no one needs more than I do God’s grace to 
walk uprightly in His commandments. If you will 
do the same, I shall indeed feel grateful.” 

And to another: — “ But, after all, it does not much 
matter whether we meet in this w r orld or not. The 
great end we must all have in view is a glorious 
union hereafter, where that painful word, c Good bye ’ 
is never heard, and where one’s brains and wretched 
body which we carry about with us here shall be no 
longer subject to torment and disease.” 

And to a third, thus:—“What a comfort, in this 
your sad trial, to be able to recognise the hand of a 
good and gracious Father! However severe the 
chastening may be, one thing I feel certain of, that 
you will hereafter, if you do not in the fullest sense 



VOYAGE OUT. 


99 


now , thank God with all your heart and soul that 
He thus visited you. You know you will. God 
bless you ! If it be good for you, may you have a 
speedy recovery ! and, if not, may you realise—what 
is far better than health—that full and perfect measure 
of God’s grace which enables all to rejoice in tribu¬ 
lation ! ” 

These were no mere words of course, littered by 
him , they meant much. He was administering from 
the deep well-spring of his heart the consolations with 
which he had himself been so richly comforted of 
God. 

It was on a bright morning in the early spring that 
he bade a last adieu to the shores of Old England. 
“ Left Portsmouth,” he writes,“ by the 8.1.5 a.m. train 
for Southampton ; at 9.50 were hauled into the fair¬ 
way; and, at 12, a small steam-tender left the dock 
for the “ Avon ” with passengers. Went off; saw my 
cabin; and, after depositing my baggage, returned 
and sauntered about the shore till the tender took 
her final departure with the mails. Walked about 

the docks with E-d and P-, and at 2.30 took 

my final leave of the shore and of those dear to me.” 
His last words were — “Pray for me.”* 

The voyage out was not very prolific of incidents; 
but we select from his diary a few wayfarer’s notes, 
as a specimen of his daily routine. 

* la his sister's Bible,he marked, that clay, the following texts: — 
1 Tliess. iv. 18 ; 2 Thess. iii. 16; Numb. vi. 26. 




100 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN" W. T. BATE, R.N. 

“Feb. 4, 1856. The mails being delivered over, 
consisting of 873 boxes and 44 bags, we slipped the 
buoy at 3.10 p.m. At 5.20 passed Hurst Castle: 
5.47 passed the Needles. 

“ Feb. 5. Average speed of the vessel, 94 and 
10 knots; making 26f revolutions. Noon : Heavy 
westerly swell. The majority of the passengers be¬ 
low sea-sick : not a lady on deck. Midnight: Strong 
breeze from the S. W. increasing together with the sea. 
Vessel beginning to make all hands feel as if they 
wished they had never put foot afloat. 

“ Feb. 6. Strong breeze all night. Inclined to 
freshen ; although the barometer does not lead one 
to apprehend a gale. Sea increasing. Passengers 
crawling about in a miserable condition. The Com- 
panion seems a favourite place for them to huddle 
together: they get out of the wet there, and enjoy the 
fresh air at the same time. Unfortunately for them, 
it is contrary to the regulations in all ships for any 
one to monopolise a thoroughfare. A notice was 
placed up somewhat to that effect ; and the poor 
fellows had to seek, some their beds, some anywhere , 
and some no doubt wished they were overboard. 
Noon: Heavy sea from the S.W. Ship pitching, 
and taking in much water over all. Down masts 
and yards.” 

The day following, towards the afternoon, the 
weather moderated, “ to the great delight of the pas¬ 
sengers,” who ‘ c were of opinion that no gale could 
have been worse.” And the next morning he writes : 


INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE. 


101 


—“ Some of the young passengers are walking six 
inches taller already, having weathered f one of the 
heaviest gales that was ever known;’ and he who has 
not once been sea-sick is indeed a hero. For my own 
part, I am uncommonly glad it is over. I was in 
bed all Wednesday, feeling wretchedly uncomfortable. 
One or two of the ladies have appeared on deck ; but 
they have all suffered very severely. At midnight, 
made Bayonne Light. Moderate and fine. The Band 
plays for an hour in the Saloon every evening.” 

On Feb. 11, the vessel anchored off Gibraltar. 
“ The steward,” he says, “ gave passes for a passage 
to and from the shore, at the rate of 2d. for each 
person. Visited the Galleries and a portion of the 
neutral ground. Breakfasted at the hotel. Gibraltar 
derives its name from the Moorish general by whom 
it was captured in 711. It remained in possession 
of the Moors till the fourteenth century, when the 
Spaniards took it; but they lost it again in 1333, and 
retook it in 1462. Sir George Book captured the 
place on 24th July 1704; since which time it has re¬ 
mained in possession of the English, despite the various 
attempts on the part of the French and Spaniards to 
wrest it from them.” 

We next find him off Alexandria :— u Feb. 19. 
Made the light (fixed bright light), the highest ob¬ 
ject in the vicinity of the harbour, at a quarter be¬ 
fore midnight. The night was remarkably fine; and 
the moon and stars shone brilliantly. Closed the 
light, and then hauled off under easy steam till 


102 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, Ii.N. 

daylight. Shortly after daylight, the Pilot came off, 
and conducted her safely to the anchorage at 7 
o’clock. The passengers had an early breakfast at 
half-past 7 ; immediately after which we landed as 
best we could in boats belonging to the shore. An 
omnibus took us to the Hotel d’Europe, near the 
S.E. angle of the Great Square. And at 10.30 we 
started for the railway station, which is about two 
miles out of the town.” 

In the Gulf of Suez, he writes: — “Feb. 24. Ship 
under all sail. Average speed from 10J to 11 knots; 
revolutions from 26 to 27. Divine service was per¬ 
formed in the saloon : majority of passengers attended. 
The Rev. Mr. Ottley preached. Service in the sa¬ 
loon in the evening: Mr. PI. expounded a portion of 
Scripture. Lamentable to see how few of the pas¬ 
sengers attended.” Then, Feb. 27, he says:— tf Pas¬ 
sengers employed variously. Eating, drinking, and 
sleeping appear to be their chief occupation.” 

Another day: — u Feb. 29. At 4 A. M. we were 
off Mecca. At 10, passed through the Strait of 
Babelmandel. Between Babel mandel and Aden the 
shore is generally low, with a sandy level. At the 
back is a remarkable, high range of mountains, the 
summit of which is broken up into sharp peaks of a 
curious configuration. We could trace no sio-ns of 
inhabitants, nor of villages of any kind, on the shore. 
At 10 we anchored in three fathoms, off the coaling 
settlement. The Oriental bad just arrived with the 
homeward-bound passengers from India. She had one. 


RED SEA — ADEN. 


103 


or two cases of small-pox on board, which created a 
little alarm amongst the passengers. The patients 
were landed immediately and received into hospital. 
Sleep was out of the question, all the ports being 
closed in consequence of coaling, which was most 
suffocating.” 

And, the day following, he adds : — “ Breakfasted 
on shore. As usual, the majority of the passengers 
started off for the cantonment, while the remainder 
contented themselves with lounging about the hotel. 
Aden is a vile hole; and, if they who are compelled 
to live in it have no resources within themselves, 
they must pass a miserable existence indeed. Aden, 
or c Portus Romanus,’ as it was formerly called, was 
fortified by the Turkish sultan, Solyman the Magni¬ 
ficent. It was afterwards held by the Arab sheikhs 
of the surrounding district, and subsequently fell into 
the hands of the East India Company, having been 
taken by assault in 1839 by a combined naval and 
military force. We weighed at 1.30 p. M.” 

A week later, he writes : — “ March 9. The 
forenoon was calm and sultry ; not a breath of air 
was stirring except what the vessel created by her 
own velocity. Divine service was performed on deck 

under an awning. Mr.-preached. He certainly 

is not one of St. Paul’s men. Several fishing boats 
were about; and on one island was a small village, 
built apparently of timber. Porpoises and gulls were 
very numerous. The sea was like glass ; and at one 
time we could not have had less than eight or ten 



104 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


islands in view. By 4 p.m. we had passed well 
through them.” 

And, March 10: — “ Thermometer 85° through¬ 
out the night; and not a breath of wind to disturb 
the glassy surface of the sea. Employed copying a 
letter Mrs. Wauchope gave me, being extracts from 
one Lady Agnew wrote, giving an account of Annie 
Agnew’s illness and sweet deathbed. What a lovely 
testimony did she give to the truth and power of 
God’s Word ! — When thou passest through ‘the val¬ 
ley of the shadow of death,’ ‘1 will be with thee.’ ” 

Other two days brought him to Point de Galle. 
“ At daybreak,” he writes, “ we weighed, and steamed 
into the bay. Depositing my chronometers on board 
the Madras, I landed with Mrs. Wauchope, Gibson, 
and party. We went to the Mansion-house Hotel 
for the purpose of taking breakfast; but, while there, 
Mr. Stewart of the Peninsular and Oriental Company 
prevailed on us to take a drive of four miles into the 
country to a place called the Gardens, where he had 
ordered breakfast to be laid in a deliciously cool 
bungalow situated on the summit of a hill command- 
ing a most delightful view of the surrounding coun¬ 
try. We returned at noon, and embarked all to- 
gether, the Bengal portion of our party coming on 
board to see the accommodation the Madras afforded. 
At 2 p.m. the two steamers weighed, and proceeded 
on their voyage.” 

On March 19, he says: — “At about 5 p.m. we 
passed close to Pulo Perda, which is a round rocky 


CEYLON — PENANG. 


105 


islet, about 200 feet above the sea, covered appa¬ 
rently with guano, and not a vestige of vegetation 
visible. It lies about eighty miles from Penang.” 
And the day following: — “ Soon after midnight, we 
saw the island of Penang, bearing south-east. At 2, 
we received a pilot; and at 4*30 we anchored off the 
town. The Bishop of Calcutta arrived this morning 
in the Hooghly : he was saluted on landing. Wrote 

a hurried letter to E-d after breakfast, and then 

went on shore to take a drive into the country. Sir 
Benson Maxwell was sworn into office under a salute 
of guns. He embarked for Singapore, to hold a con¬ 
ference with the Governor relative to the new charter 
for organising separate courts of judicature at Pe¬ 
nang and Singapore. Received the China mail, and 
left the harbour at 1 p.m.” 

The next day, at dusk, they were off Malacca; and, 
the day following, at 11*30, they anchored at Singa¬ 
pore. He writes: — “ H.M. S. Encounter, just ar¬ 
rived from Calcutta, was here; also the American 
frigate Macedonian, and French frigate Constantine, 
and a small 14-gun brig. The two latter vessels were 
co-operating with our squadron in the Gulf of Tar¬ 
tary last year. Captain, or Commodore (for he had 
his pendant flying), Montravel speaks English toler¬ 
ably well. He passed a high eulogium on the cha¬ 
racters of the British officers commanding the ships 
on the Castries Bay expedition, and appeared to think 
there was no blame attributable to Commodore Elliott 
in not attacking the Russian squadron on that occa- 



106 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


sion. The Commander-in-chief’s inactivity appeared 
to be more the subject for censure. Dined in the 
country, about three miles away, with Mr. and Mrs. 
Harvey, and slept on board the steamer.” 

Before leaving Singapore, he was gladdened with 
a letter from an old shipmate, resident at Victoria, 
New South Wales, in answer to one from him¬ 
self before leaving England. We quote a few sen¬ 
tences as illustrative of the character of his friend¬ 
ships :— ft Your letter came in, about three hours 
since, while we were at dinner. When we first opened 
the parcel with your letter, and saw a book, I thought 
it might possibly be the c Royalist’s Voyage,’ or c Ac¬ 
count of Palawan,’ with the author’s affectionate re¬ 
gards. Is there any chance of such a work ? I can 
imagine your feeling of satisfaction on seeing both 
coasts of Palawan snuglv on one sheet. I lon^ to 
see them out. You ask, my dear Bate, what is the 
most useful thing you can send your godchild, our 
dear boy. My wife and I were both struck with 
your generous offer, and agree that the most valuable 
gift we can suggest, and which we are sure will be 
the most lasting in benefit to the child, is, your fer¬ 
vent prayers to our Heavenly Father that he maybe 
indeed His own child — that he may be lifted out of 
the mire of the flesh, and his feet set upon the Rock of 
Ages—his going established in the narrow path, and 
the new song put into his mouth. This is asking the 
most we could, yet in the confidence we are not ask¬ 
ing too much of you and yours. He will be two years 



SINGAPORE — OPIUM TRADE. 


107 


old, if he is permitted to continue with us, on the 6th 
of April next — chatters very intelligibly — and is just 
beginning to lisp his prayers on his mother’s knee. 
That is the most lovely sight in nature. I wish you 
could enjoy it with me. I suppose you have seen 
Lady Parry and her family since dear Sir Edward’s 
death.” 

On March 23, he sailed from Singapore for Hong- 
Kong. “ As Jardine’s steamer, the Fiery Cross,” he 
writes, “ had arrived the previous evening, and was 
about to leave for China immediately, we put all 
steam up in this vessel, and managed, notwithstand¬ 
ing the foul state of her bottom, to get 8-J- knots and 
22^ revolutions. The Fiery Cross is said to be very 
fast; and great fears are entertained that she will be 
before this vessel in the opium market. Both ships 
are loaded with the drug. The Malwa, of Bombay 
production, is said to fetch the most in the China 
market. The Chinese themselves grow a little; but, 
notwithstanding M. Hue’s assertion to the contrary, 
it is inferior to our Patna, which, I believe, is con¬ 
sidered to be the worst kind imported to China. We 
have a thousand chests on board, the value of each 
one of which is four hundred dollars when landed at 
Hong-Kong. The profit must be enormous, when 
these are sold to the Chinese at the rate of eight 
hundred dollars per chest, — ah! and are caught up 
by them with the greatest avidity.” 

One or tw r o little incidents are noted, as he pro¬ 
ceeds. “ March 24. On examining the boxes of 


108 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

the Chinese on board belonging to the ship, as 
much as 12,000 dollars were found amongst them. 
Freightage was charged forthwith, at which they 
were a little astonished.” And, March 25 :—“ By 
our reckoning we passed five miles from the Char¬ 
lotte Bank about 4 o’clock. It is not a danger likely 
to bring a vessel up, by all accounts ; although I 
believe the only authority we have for this is Hors- 
burgh. I know no person who has actually run his 
ship over it; though, until closely questioned, many 
say they have. When captains out here tell you 
they have passed over shoals, as a general rule never 
believe them.” 

Two days later, he writes: — “ They are so very 
reluctant to spread the awnings on board this ship for 
fear of being overtaken by the Fiery Cross, that by 
12 o’clock the vessel becomes so heated throughout 
as to make it next to impossible to sit down to do 
anything requiring attention. Thus we pay, in dis¬ 
comfort, for the small satisfaction of the chance of 
not being outstript in our voyage by an opposition- 
vessel !” 

On March 30: — (( We experienced a sudden 
change this morning. At daylight, it blew fresh 
with drenching rain and a head-sea, which made 
most of the passengers feel very uncomfortable, my¬ 
self among the number. Several junks in sight, 
some of which we passed very close to. At 6*30, we 
came to an anchor off* West Point, it being too dark 
to proceed further, with the harbour so full of ship¬ 
ping. At 8, went on board the Winchester in the 


HONG-KONG — ARRIVAL. 


109 


guard-boat, to call upon the Admiral. Bittern not 
yet arrived, but expected hourly.” 

‘ c April 1. Called, during the day, on the Bishop 
and some others of my old friends. Much to my 
regret, I found the Rev. Mr. Morton had, in conse¬ 
quence of ill health, been obliged to abandon his post 
at Loo-choo. He has been living for some months 
with the Bishop, the French frigate Sybille having 
kindly brought him over. How mysterious are the 
ways of God ! Mr. M. had just succeeded in ac¬ 
complishing the language, and could speak fluently 
to the natives: he felt his position on the island 
secure : the Government had in a measure ceased to 
oppose him in his mission-work : and yet, for some 
wise purpose hereafter to be revealed to us, God sees 
fit to remove him at the very moment when we 
thought everything was going on so prosperously. 
He certainly looks very unwell; and medical men 
here say he ought not to return to Loo-choo.” “ The 
Loo-chooian Government has taken charge of the 
house and property belonging to the Mission; and, 
on Mr. Morton delivering it over to them, one of the 
agents expressed a wish that he would soon return. 
Mr. M. gave them to understand, that, if he himself 
did not, another missionary would very shortly. The 
French Jesuits have now entire charge of the spiritual 
welfare of the poor Loo-chooians. This is very dis¬ 
tressing ; but it is a comfort to feel that God can ac¬ 
complish His own purposes, however strangely to us 
He may appear to go to work about it.” 

<e April 2. No Bittern yet! A report is about, that 


110 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


she is at Amoy. If she have a large convoy to bring 
down, she will probably, by the dilatoriness of the 
Chinese, be some days before she makes her appear¬ 
ance. Walked to East Point. The population of 
Hong-Kona; and influx of inhabitants are increasing 
rapidly. Houses are building in every direction; 
but more particularly in the district known as Ty- 
ping-shan, the scene of a terrible conflagration about 
two years since, where poor Lieutenant Luff, R.A., 
lost his life, and Lieutenant Wilson of the Engineers 
was so frightfully wounded and burnt. Met Captain 
Parker and the Rev. J. Irwin, Colonial Chaplain, at 
dinner at the Bishop’s in the evening.” 

“ April 5. Took a walk with Captain Parker, and 
met at his house in the evening at dinner a German 
missionary, Mr. Lobchild. Mr. L. related some most 
interesting anecdotes relative to his mission. He 
lives in a small village about forty miles north of this, 
enjoying perfect security, although exposed at times 
to some perils whilst interposing and mediating be¬ 
tween parties who are frequently at war with each 
other. They have no less than eight stations, and I 
believe number among them about five hundred con¬ 
verts. Mr, L. has about sixty in his district; and he 
believes them to be sincere. One great test, he says, 
is, when they give up the worship of their ancestors, a 
custom (Hue confirms this) to which, of all others, thev 
are most addicted, money-making perhaps excepted.” 

At length, on April 7, his ship arrived; and, a day 
or two afterwards, he took the command. 


CHAPTER X. 


“ A Paltry Brig.”—“ Not Seaworthy.”—Energy. — Method of Dis¬ 
cipline.— The Gospel. — Daily Prayers, — “The Fellows happy.” 
— “Living Epistle.” — “A secret Brightness.” — Offenders.— 
Power of Kindness. — Scene in Hospital.—Whampoa.—Chinese 
Play.—Obscenity.—Women.— Moral Degradation.—Dying Na¬ 
tive.— A Murder.—Chinese Crew.—Incident on Shore.—Starved 
to Death.—The Cloud and the Silver Lining. 


“ Oh ! check the reckless murmur ever rising still, 

Which proves that Thine is not Thy servant’s only will. 
I long for Thee, my Saviour ! Even in this dark day ; 
From Thee proceeds the only bright or cheering ray.” 


113 


“Let me hear from you,” wrote a friend to him, 
“ how ever you accepted the command of such a 
paltry brig. But doubtless the Lord has directed 
you, and in your present position you have His work 
to do. May you have grace abundantly, to accom¬ 
plish His purposes! ” All his friends were chagrined 
and pained. “ The vessel,” says an officer who held 
a command in the Chinese waters, “ had been so 
much damaged, that she was really not sea-worthy.” 
But Bate was not a man to mope over his ill-treat¬ 
ment. He was in the place where God had put him; 
and he steadfastly set his face to his work, caring 
only to approve himself to his Master in heaven. 

After docking at Whampoa, the Bittern was at 
length put into repair; and her commander gra¬ 
dually communicated to the ship’s company that high 
tone of discipline which his firm hand and kind heart 
never failed to impart. At first, if the men were 

I 


114 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


allowed of a Sunday afternoon to have a country 

•/ «■ 

ramble, they “ abused the indulgence by returning, 
more than half of them, drunk; ” but a few weeks 
had not passed when Cf all the liberty-men, with the 
exception of three, came on board to time and quite 
sober.” His method of dealing with them is instruc¬ 
tive. 

On April 27, he writes: —“ Performed divine ser¬ 
vice on deck. Commenced the plan of reading a ser¬ 
mon (one of Mr. Molyneux’s short ones, to the men 
‘ Broken Bread’). They don’t quite understand what 
I am after. I trust God will give me grace to continue 
it, and, as soon as the vessel is a little more settled, 
to have daily prayer also. I think their spiritual 
concerns have been made subordinate to their tem¬ 
poral affairs.” 

And, a week or two later, he says :—“ Performed 
divine service on the lower deck. Read a sermon to 
the men : 2d Chapter of Doddridge’s ‘ Rise and Pro¬ 
gress.’ I wonder if any effect was produced. Some 
appeared attentive ; others perfectly indifferent. Oh 
God! I pray that thy Word, even when uttered by 
such a vile instrument as thou hast chosen, may go 
forth with power to the hearts of my hearers, and 
that it may not return unto thee void, but that it may 
accomplish the work whereunto thou hast sent it. 
Let thy Spirit do His full work, I pray thee, amongst 
the seamen and marines of this ship. Truly it may 
be said that darkness covers the ship, and gross dark¬ 
ness her company.” 


115 


U THE fellows are happy.” 

And, on Monday, May 19, he adds:—“After 
quarters this morning, I told the ship’s company it 
was my intention to establish a custom of reading a 
portion of Scripture and offering up one or two prayers 
in public acknowledgment of what we all ought in¬ 
dividually to feel—the boundless goodness and merci¬ 
ful providence of God. The announcement appeared 
to be well received; and I commenced forthwith b\ r 
reading the first chapter of John, and concluding 
with our Lord’s Prayer and the prayer used at sea. 
May God give me grace and strength to continue this 
duty ! ” 

A blessing attended — as it always does — the work 
of faith and of love. A few weeks afterwards, writ¬ 
ing to a friend in England respecting it, he says:— 
“I have established morning prayers; and on Sun¬ 
days I am told the attention of the men is more than 
it has ever been before. I read a chapter in the 
Bible—not a long one—every morning after divi¬ 
sions, and conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and one 
or two extempore prayers. I think it answers well: 
the fellows are happy; and so am I.” And he adds:— 
“ Last Sunday, I commenced reading Molyneux’s 
* World to Come,’ in the hope the subject would in¬ 
terest both officers and men. I purpose (D. V.) going 
through with it. I spoke to my men about the 
Nightingale Fund ; and they have one and all contri¬ 
buted two days’ pay.” 

The truth is, his own daily walk was so trans¬ 
parently holy, and his manly face so beamed with 


116 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


kindness, that his men felt themselves unconsciously 
attracted to Him whose service their beloved com¬ 
mander so evidently felt to be “ perfect freedom.” 
“ The fellows are happy, and so am I.” Such is the 
secret of every endeavour which has on it the stamp 
of God’s approval. 

“Go to, ye careless mockers, 

Despise it as ye will, 

There is a truth and power 
In Christ’s religion still. 

No more ideal day-dreams 
The true believer hath, 

There is a secret brightness, 

Which shines around his path. 

There is a life, and unction, 

A vivid, holy joy, 

A love within his bosom, 

No waters can destroy! ” 

Like Havelock, he combined with his anxiety for 
the spiritual welfare of his men, a strict, unflinching 
discipline. On the occasion already named, when 
three of the “ liberty-men ” returned intoxicated, he 
writes:—“ One of the three is a quartermaster, the 
oldest and best sailor in the ship. This blackguard 
does all the mischief. It is my intention to flog one 
of them to-morrow.” And, the next day, accord¬ 
ingly, he records:—“Punished J. Wilson with a dozen 
strokes of the ‘ cat.’ ” 

And, a week or two later, he writes:—“Read the 
Articles of War, and took a ‘good-conduct badge’ 
away from the boatswain’s mate for drunkenness and 


DISCIPLINE ON BOARD. 


117 


insubordination. He has been sixteen years in the 

V 

service, and had three stripes. I question if they are 
well merited. He was one of the first men I saw 
lying dead-drunk under Mr. Cowper’s shed on the 
Sunday night when so many of the ship’s company 
were intoxicated.” 

And, two days later :—“ Sent an officer and party 

with the master-at-arms of H. M. S. Nankin away 

«/ 

early this morning, to board the English ships lying 
in the river, in search of deserters. None were found 
afloat; but, on entering a boarding house in Bamboo- 
town, they surprised six of them, though they only 
succeeded in capturing three. The remainder, leav¬ 
ing their clothes behind, escaped into the country.” 

His discipline was not the arbitrary and repulsive 
caprice of the martinet, but the calm and winning 
considerateness of the Christian man. “ One could 
see in a moment,” says a friend whose hospitality he 
often enjoyed at this period*, “ the remarkable attach¬ 
ment of his officers and ship’s company to him. He 
had in a strong degree the power of attaching to him 
all who were under his command, and of inspiring 
them with confidence in him. I remember accom¬ 
panying him in a visit to the hospital-ship ; and, in 
going amongst the sick, he recognised one or two of 
his former ship’s-company who had been with him in 
the Royalist. I was struck with the way in which 


* The Rev. John Invin, M.A., Colonial Chaplain. 


118 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


they mutually greeted each other as old friends, the 
eyes of the poor invalids brightening up as they lis¬ 
tened to his words of kindness and consolation. 

“ From all quarters,” adds the same friend, “ there 
were testimonies to his extraordinary consideration 
for those under his command. He remarked to me, 
one day, that he always found kindness the most 
effectual way of dealing with men of all classes and 
dispositions. ‘ We are sure,’ said he, c to do wrong 
what we do in a passion. I once punished a man 
hastily and in a passion, and I did wrong.’ The cir¬ 
cumstances were, as I remember, that, returning on 
board the Royalist at night, and one of the hands 
being reported by an officer for insubordination, he 
had ordered him to be punished on the spot, and after¬ 
wards he had reason to believe that he had acted un¬ 
justly as well as hastily.” 

Whilst waiting for the Admiral’s orders respecting 
his destination, he made occasional visits to the town 
and neighbouring country. “This Whampoa,” he 
wrote, one day, “ is a detestable hole, abounding with 
every species of villany and vice. There is a ‘ Sing¬ 
song ’ or Chinese play going on, some two or three 
times in the week. It attracts people from all parts of 
the island and some from the neighbouring shore. The 
women appear to take peculiar delight in it. I believe 
the actors generally wind up with some drama in 
which the grossest obscenity is represented.” And, 
another day, he says :—“ The Chinese here are the 
greatest set of rascals under the sun; and the 


A MURDER — CHINESE MORALITY. 


119 


women are twice as bad — up to any amount of 
villany.” 

And, another day, he wrote :—“ Went on shore at 
five this morning to take a walk; and, returning along 
the bank of the creek which separates Bamboo-town 
from a village east of it, I discovered, at the entrance, 
on the left bank, the body of a native lying upon his 
belly, frightfully lacerated about the head and left 
arm especially, groaning and at times writhing in 
agony. The Chinese were standing round him, totally 
unconcerned, the women laughing at his sufferings. 
The man was quite insensible, except to pain. With 
some difficulty, I procured a small litter, for which I 
promised to pay one dollar, and brought him along¬ 
side this vessel, with a view to procure surgical assist¬ 
ance and perchance save a life which, alas! appeared 
to be fast ebbing. The unfortunate man was not 
stript of any of his clothing; but his knife had been 
taken from the leathern sheath which he carried 
about his person. By the time I reached the ship, 
his spirit had well-nigh departed; and the doctor’s 
assistance was of no avail. One or two convulsions 
of the throat and thorax, and he was no more. He 
belonged to the Peninsular and Oriental Steamer 
Chusan, now lying here. The vice-consul, with a 
jury of three merchant-captains, held an inquest on 
the body; and I went on board the Alligator to give 
my evidence respecting the discovery of the unfortu¬ 
nate creature. I will be bound to say a woman had, 


120 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

either directly or indirectly, something to do with the 
murder.” 

A few days later, an incident occurred, which he 
narrates thus:—“The captain of a lorcha, flying 
English colours but owned by Chinese, came on board 
to tell us that his life was in danger, being apprehen¬ 
sive that the crew intended rising against his autho¬ 
rity when below the Bogue forts, for the purpose of 
plundering the vessel of the six thousand dollars with 
which she was partly laden, and of then taking her 
up the coast on a piratical cruise. He had two Euro¬ 
peans on board, picked up at Whampoa last night, 
whom he had thought to get to protect him against 
the Chinese crew. He, however, requested my inter¬ 
ference in removing them from the vessel this morn¬ 
ing, as he had heard they were not likely to fall into 
his views but on the contrary to assist these very per¬ 
sons in carrying out their diabolical design and be¬ 
coming participators in the plunder. The captain 
was afraid to return to the vessel; and I allowed him 
to remain on board till the evening, when he went off 
to Hong-Kong by the 6 p.m. steamer. The lorcha 
remains close to us.” 

A little trip to Canton in the “ whale-boat ” gave 
him another glimpse into Chinese life. “ Walking 
on shore this morning,” he writes, “ I discovered the 
body of a Chinaman. He had not been long dead. 
He presented a most emaciated appearance, as if he 
had been starved to death. I asked some Chinese to 
remove the body; but they would have nothing to do 


NOT A GRUMBLER. 


121 


with it, unless I paid them something.” And, the 
next day:—“ Walking on shore this evening, I saw 
a Chinaman burying the body I discovered yesterday. 
He just laid it under the surface of the ground, the 
mound barely covering it.” 

On farther trial, the vessel was found to be such a 
wreck, that the Admiral referred to the authorities 
at home the question of her thorough repair or of 
“ selling her for whatever she would bring.” Mean¬ 
while, the heat was so oppressive, and the cabins so 
close and contracted, that at last it became “ hardly 
endurable.” Bate, however, in spite of his self-accus- 
ings, was not a grumbler; nature and grace alike led 
him to look, less at the cloud, than at its silver lining: 
and so we have him adding :— (( 1 often think, when I 
have grumbled at the weather or about anything else, 
what a pity it is I do not consider more w r hat the 
effect would be upon me if matters were ten times 
worse. I would desire, in order to correct my habit 
of complaining, to look at the amount of misery and 
suffering around me, instead of dwelling on an 
ideal joy and happiness. A due consideration and 
contemplation of our present position cannot fail to 
call forth our earnest gratitude to God that He has 
made us what we are. For my own part, I may with 
truth say, * The lines have fallen to me in pleasant 
places.’ ” 





CHAPTER XI. 


Coming rest.— Stormy Passage. — Quiet Interval.— Friendships.— 
“A Sunbeam.” — Converse. — “Seasoned with Salt.” — Hedley 
Vicars.— Contrast.— Self-accusings.—“A Lump of Sin.”—“Gos¬ 
sipping.”—“ Power of Money.”—Christ only.—“ A Marvel.”—A 
True Friend.—“Can’t but listen.”—Peace-maker.—A Reproof. 
— Missions. — Courtesy. — A Rescue. — Love to Children, — 
“ Happy in his arms.”—“A Jewel seldom seen.” 


‘ Cast thy bread upon the waters,’ 
Sow in faith the little seed; 

Oft an unseen blessing hallows 
Some unthought-of word or deed. 
God shall give thee sweet rejoicing, 
After many gloomy days ; 

And thine everlasting anthem 

Shall declare the Master’s praise.” 


125 


There lay before him, during the succeeding year, 
a season of rough conflict. He was to reach his quiet 
haven, only after a stormy passage. 

“ A throne and crown await him, 

Bought by his Surety’s blood ; 

An endless rest in heaven, 

A portion in his God.” 

And, meanwhile, to fit him to pass worthily onward 
to his home, he was enjoying an interval of quiet fel¬ 
lowship with more than one dear fellow-pilgrim. 

e£ It was in the summer of 1856,” writes a surviv¬ 
ing friend in China, “ that we became acquainted. It 
did not take long to learn to appreciate his lovely 
character — recommended at first sight to every one 
by the bright and holy expression of his counte¬ 
nance; which, like a sunbeam, shed light and joyous- 


126 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


ness upon all around him; and soon our acquaintance 
ripened into intimate friendship. Our Sundays, es¬ 
pecially, were very happy days; for, after his own 
service on hoard ship, he often joined us at church, 
and spent the remaining hours of the day with us, 
when we enjoyed delightful converse. That beautiful 
verse of Iveble’s Evening Hymn seemed to me so 
applicable to him — 

‘ When with dear friend sweet talk I hold, 

And all the pleasures of life unfold, 

Let not my heart within me burn, 

Unless in all I thee discern.’ 

Truly with him this subject was ever uppermost. 
He loved to dwell upon the preciousness of our 
Saviour’s promises, embracing them with childlike 
faith and simplicity, and striving to win others to 
enjoy that true happiness which those only know who 
love the Lord, as he did, in sincerity and truth.” 

In conversation, one day, he alluded to Hedley 
Vicars. “ I have just,” said he, “ been reading his 
Memoir; and I am quite disgusted with the contrast 
of my own and of his character. What a noble fellow 
he was, and what a poor wretched specimen of a 
Christian man am I! Why, yesterday,” he added, in 
a tone of deep abasement, “ I went to the hospital to 
visit some of my sick men,—there was one lying very 
ill, — and, because one or two doctors were present, 
I actually had not courage to speak to that soul of 
Jesus ! ” 

Another day, he said—“Oh! if you only knew 


127 


CONVERSATION — HEDLEY VICARS. 

what a lump of sin I carry about in my body, you 
would indeed pity me and pray for me. I have been 
thinking all this morning of that text, f To me to live 
is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Would that I could 
realise it every hour, every moment! ” 

In society, his constant aim was to <e minister 

grace to the use of edifying.” “ In visiting-,” 

he wrote, on one occasion, to a friend, “ mind vou 
are not led insensibly into gossip. We often our¬ 
selves are entrapped, and only become aware of our 
imprisonment when we try to escape from it. Gossip¬ 
ping is an evil to which we are all addicted; and 
nothing mars the Christian character more, especially 
in ladies. Don’t think, from this, I imagine you are 
a gossip: but we are weak and sinful creatures, in¬ 
fluenced more by the smiles and frowns of the world 
than we are by our Saviour’s precepts. Few Chris¬ 
tian people are loved in this world except by their 
own brotherhood; but, when consistency marks their 
pilgrimage, they are always respected.” 

And he added:—“You will not, I know, think I 

am judging the people of-. Far be it from me ! 

I believe, if I were one, I should be the vilest. But 
you understand the power of money; and they are 
all there with the avowed purpose of gaining that 
power. I say, therefore, it is an atmosphere in which 
your moral health will not derive that benefit which 
I pray your physical health may. Seek that society 
alone, which recognises Christ as the Alpha and 
Omega.” 




128 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


(t How few,” it has been said,— 

“ There be among men who forget themselves for others! 
Verily the man is a marvel whom truth can write a friend.” 

“ Many a person,” writes another, “ has said to me, 
( Dear Captain Bate is such a true friend ; he never 
hesitates to point out what he thinks wrong, and yet 
he does it in such a way that one cannot possibly take 
offence, but rather feel§ grateful; and then he so con¬ 
sistently himself perseveres in the right course, that 
one can’t but listen to what he says.’” 

Even on occasions where ordinary men shrink 
back into silence, his gentle influence, so mild yet so 
firm, few could resist. One day, he heard of a little 
difference which had arisen between two mutual 
friends. He went to the one in fault, and plainly 
pointed out to him that he had done wrong, and, by 
no harsh reproof, but by gentle persuasion, caused the 
friend to see his error, and produced union between 
the two. So had he always,” the same friend adds, 
“ a word in season ; and his good advice and counsel 
have been blest to many.” 

Another characteristic of his social converse is 
noted by Mr. Irwin thus: — “Unobtrusive in his 
religion and piety, he never would allow them to be 
assailed in his presence with impunity. On one occa¬ 
sion, a gentleman, who was sceptical as to the results 
of Missionary enterprise, boldly expressed his convic¬ 
tion that the professed converts were the worst classes 
of the population, and declared his doubts whether 


MISSIONS.- cc FELT INDIGNANT.” 


129 


a single real convert had been made. Captain Bate 
felt indignant at such an assertion, and rejoined, 

4 You might just as well question the truth of the 
Acts of the Apostles, or the work of the Apostles them¬ 
selves.’ ” 

Cowper says— 

“ As similarity of mind, 

Or something not to be defined, 

First fixes your attention; 

So manners decent and polite, 

The same we practised, at first sight, 

Must save it from declension.” 

se I remember,” writes the friend already quoted, 
speaking of his delicate sensitiveness to the feelings 
of others, “ during an argument in which he had 
become much excited and rather annoyed at some 
remarks that were made, he recollected that one ladv 
present was an invalid; and immediately he went up 
to her and apologised for having in his excitement 
talked so loud and increased, as he feared, her head¬ 
ache.” “ So very gentle,” his friend adds, “ and 
courteous was he always, and so ready to own himself 
in the wrong.” 

His warm heart was ever ready with its sympathies, 
even for the most unworthy. One evening, during a 
very severe storm of heavy rain, thunder, and light¬ 
ning, whilst sitting in his cabin, he heard cries of 
distress. Immediately he rushed on deck ; and a 
gleam of lightning showed that it proceeded from two 
Chinese women, whose boat had upset, and who were 

K 


130 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


being carried by the force of the current down the 
river. Instantly he gave orders for his boat to be 
lowered, and, himself proceeding to the rescue, 
succeeded in saving them from a watery grave. His 
kindness did not end there, but he took the poor 
creatures*to his ship, fed and clothed them, and after¬ 
wards restored them to their homes. 

The Lord Jesus, when He “ dwelt among us,” 
seems to have drawn to Himself the hearts of child¬ 
ren. Thev were often about Him: for their keen 
«/ 

instinct detected in Him a most gentle Friend. Bate 
possessed this beautiful characteristic to a degree 
quite remarkable. “ He was wonderfully attached,” 
says the friend in China already quoted, “ to my 
dear baby, his godchild, and would nurse the little 
thing for hours, being as gentle and kind to her as 
a woman; and baby was always happy with him.” 

“ What happier recreation than a nurseling — 

“ Its winning ways, its prattling tongue, its innocence and mirth? ” 

On his last visit to that mother, an incident oc¬ 
curred which she records thus : — “ I well remem¬ 
ber how that day he missed my baby, and had her 
brought to him. Afterwards, whenever I offered to 
take her, he would say, c Oh ! Jet me keep her; it is 
my last day here.’ And she was happy in his arms 
for hours.” 

No surer test anywhere of a man’s real nature ! — 

“ There is an atmosphere of happiness floating round that man, 

Love is throned upon his heart.” 


FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN. 


131 


A child discerns it in a moment; and its decision 
admits of no reversal. 

And it was not only an infant that attracted him. 
The child grew in years, not to outgrow his kindly 
sympathies, hut to find in him a loving and con¬ 
descending friend. 

“ The friendship of a child is the brightest gem set upon the circlet 
of society, 

A jewel worth a world of pains—a jewel seldom seen.” 

ee His fondness for children,” says Mr. Irwin, ff was 
quite singular. He noticed them — entered into all 
their little sports and ways — and never seemed more 
at home than when amusing them and making them 
happy.” One of the most notable of all his war-tro¬ 
phies he gave as a present to a little boy. 


K 2 









CHAPTER XII. 


Type of British Sailor. — Feat of Seamanship. — Cruise in Canton 
River. — Field-culture. — “ Execution-ground.” — Dimensions. — 
Aceldama. — Revolting Spectacle. — Superstitions. — “ Oblation to 
the Moon.”—Night-scene.—Sailor drowned. — Coffin.— “Thank 
God for Peace !”—Inundations.— Distress.— “Full of Christ.”— 
“ Money, Wine, and Women.” — Missionary Hospitals.—Dr. Par¬ 
ker. — Dr. Hobson. — “ Exterminate.”— La Perouse.— Literary 
Examinations. — Degrees.— Intense Heat.—A Surprise.— Henry 
Martyn.—A Problem.—Prophecy.—“ Blessed Hope.” — Its Sanc¬ 
tifying Power. — “Oh ! for a harp !” 


“ I travell’d on, seeing the hill, where lay 

My expectation.” 


135 


Bate was the very model of a British sailor. “ I saw 
him,” says a naval officer, “ bring the Bittern into 
Hong-Ivong one middle watch on a dark night, thread¬ 
ing his way among the shipping, and anchoring her 
close off the dock-yard in a position where few men 
in broad day-light could so successfully have placed 
her,—and all without a whisper being heard.” 

The summer and autumn were spent in “ cruising 
about the Canton River,” partly to c£ protect British 
interests,” and partly to (( promote the health and 
discipline of the crew.” For a mind of his tempera¬ 
ment, the occupation was monotonous and dreary 
enough; but events were soon to occur of a kind to 
test the bravest heart and strongest arm. Mean¬ 
while, we accompany him on his cruise, noting some 
occasional incidents. 

One day, he landed at Canton, and took a walk 
into the neighbouring country. (< Some of the Chi- 

K 4 


136 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.X. 

nese,” lie says, “ were preparing the land for sowing 
the rice. I watched two men and three women at 
work for a long time this morning. They were over 
their ankles in mud, turning the ground over first 
with very broad wooden spades, like the Irish; then 
raking it; and, lastly, smoothing and levelling it by 
drawing over the surface breadth-ways a long plank, 
weighted with mud at one end, and pressed down by 
a man at the other. The seed, which had just com¬ 
menced to germinate, was then strewed with the 
hand over the surface of the mud and water, and go 
left. Others, again, were transplanting the young 
paddy made into bundles like young leeks.” 

Another day he visited a scene of a different sort. 
“I went,” he writes, this afternoon to the e Execu¬ 
tion-ground,’ accompanied by Messrs. Johnson and 
Burney. There had been no decapitations this morn¬ 
ing ; and the ground was saturated with water from 
the recent rains. Took a rough sketch of the place, 
and measured its dimensions, which are as follows — 
Whole length from gate to gate, in S. S. E. di¬ 
rection, 194 feet; width at the entrance, 18 feet; 
broadest part, 33 feet; narrowest part, at the southern 
extremity, 15 feet. 27,000 persons are said to have 
been put to death in this enclosure during the last 
year.* The area of the ground on which these exe- 

v <0 


* The Times ’ Correspondent, writing in February, 1858 , estimates 
the number of executions during the two preceding years at 70 , 000 . 
For a most graphic account of the horrible barbarities perpetrated 


44 THE EXECUTION-GROUND.” 137 

cutions took place, excluding the passage at the north 
end, is equal to *173 of an acre, or 27 T 6 ^- perches.” 

Another day, some weeks later, he visited this 
44 field of blood,” on occasion of an execution. He 
writes : — 44 I went to the Execution-ground at ten 
this morning, accompanied by Mr. Johnson, Mr. Gor¬ 
don Newton, and Lieut. Chisholm of the Sybille, and 
witnessed, from the roof of the carpenter’s shop there, 
the decapitation of upwards of eighty criminals; one 
unfortunate wretch was 4 cut into a thousand pieces * 
at the 4 cross.’ A more revolting sight I never saw: 
there was neither dignity nor solemnity in the cere¬ 
mony ; and the extreme sentence of the law was car¬ 
ried out in their most ruffianly style.” * 

As usual, the 44 habitations of cruelty ” were found 
to be redolent with the incense of the grossest super¬ 
stition. A scene in honour of an 44 oblation to the 
moon,” he describes, on a subsequent occasion,thus:— 
44 Pulled out on the river with Mr. and Mrs. Parkes. 
The boats and houses were all illuminated, and had a 
very striking appearance through the haze which 
hung on the river. The moon was nearly full; and, 
at the close of the festivities, these illuminations, fire¬ 
works, &c., are meant as an oblation to it. Every 
Chinaman on this occasion considers it to be his duty 

in that Aceldama, we refer the reader to the very interesting and 
instructive volume containing the “ Correspondent’s” letters. 

* The Tivies’ Correspondent describes most graphically this hor¬ 
rible scene ; though he does not appear to have actually witnessed it. 


138 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


to hoist a light or lights, according to his means, at 
the highest part of his residence ashore or afloat.” 

One morning, as the men were bathing, one of them 
for a moment lost hold of the rope and sank. There 
were several others just beside him ; but, as he (( could 
not swim a stroke,” his disappearance was too sudden 
for any of them to render assistance. “ We sent the 
jolly-boat,” Bate writes, to seek for the body, and 
also offered a reward of twenty dollars to any China¬ 
man who should pick it up that night. The Chinese, 
stimulated by the offer of so large a reward, soon set 
to work, and, two hours after he had sunk, brought 
the corpse on board. There was not the slightest 
mark of violence on him ; and, from the placid look of 
his countenance and natural position of the hands and 
fingers, I should suppose he was insensible at the mo¬ 
ment he disappeared.” And, the next dgy, he adds: 
— fC The Chinese did not bring the coffin on board 
till near four o’clock, instead of ten a.m. as they 
promised. It was a wretched thing—no shape — 
and the seams so wide that the body could be seen 
through them. It was plastered over with some black 
pigment. I believe the man intends charging four 
dollars for it. The corpse was placed on the dingy, 
and, towed by the cutter and followed by the pin¬ 
nace and gig, left the ship for the burial-ground, 
just four-and-twenty hours after he had gone from it 
in perfect health to bathe. The ship was unusually 
quiet all the rest of the evening.” 

Like all brave men, he was an ardent lover of peace. 


139 


PEACE AND WAR. 

“ Thank God for peace! ” he wrote, one day, on re¬ 
ceiving the news from England of the conclusion of 
the Russian war. (( We have not heard the conditions ; 
but I have not the least doubt that under Lord 
Palmerston’s auspices they will be such as will be 
deemed honourable to all parties. Nevertheless, we 
feel our pride has been a little humbled. It will do 
us no harm; for there was far too much of the spirit 
— f By the strength of my arm have I done it; and 
by my wisdom, for I am prudent.’ The difference 
betwixt a peace-establishment and that of twenty-two 
months of war has cost the country 43,564,000^. !!!” 

A week or two afterwards, he writes : —“ Rain ! 
rain ! rain ! without cessation the whole day. Business 
was carried on from house to house in boats and in 
chairs.” And, the day following: — fC The forenoon 
was tolerably fine; but in the afternoon the rain came 
down as hard as ever. Several houses have fallen 
down inside the city walls; and I hear that eight 
persons were buried in the ruins of one of them. 
Rice has gone up considerably in price; and I fear 
there is much distress throughout the country.” 

Another day, he writes: — <f Moored off Canton, 
August 14. Performed divine service on board, and 
then attended church on shore. Mr. Gray is an extem¬ 
pore preacher; very fluent and energetic; doctrine 
sound—full of Christ. In the afternoon, the congrega¬ 
tion was very small. Five persons were present at the 
evening sermon, which commenced at five to-day. 
This is very discouraging to Mr. Gray, who, I believe, 


140 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

does all in his power to bring them under the sweet 
influences of the gospel. I fear that money, wine, and 
women, are the besetting sins of the majority of the 
foreign community at Canton. In fact, I have been 
told that they are. The number of prostitutes that 
han£ on outside the boat-house is an evidence of it, 
if anything else were wanted to convince one. Alas ! 
who hath made us to differ?” 

“ A man is known,” it has been said, “ by the com¬ 
pany he keeps.” Bate never was on shore at any place 
without at once seeking out the missionaries. “Visited,” 
he writes, one day, “ Dr. Parker’s Chinese hospital. 
An American gentleman, Dr. Carr, ministers to the 
patients in Dr. Parker’s absence. The establishment 
is open to receive the sick every day; and certain 
days are set apart for operations. This morning, a 
man about twenty-seven years of age was operated 
on for stone: the calculus extracted was as large as 
a good-sized chesnut. The patient was put into an 
anaesthetic state, and is now doing well. I saw a heart¬ 
rending case of dropsy in a poor woman; and several 
Chinese were operated on by a native practitioner for 
entropium. Ulcers, gun-shot wounds, and abscesses, 
were the principal diseases which came under treat¬ 
ment this morning. The hospital is very close, and, 
I regret to state, very dirty—so different from Dr. 
Hobson’s.” 

On another occasion, he writes:—“Visited Dr. 
Hobson’s hospital. It was opened by a native ex¬ 
pounding a portion of Scripture and finishing with a 


CANTON-LITERARY EXAMINATIONS, 141 


short prayer. The patients then came in as fast as 
Dr. Hobson could attend to them. The chief dis 
eases which came under notice this morning were 
ulcers and tumours, and an incipient case of le¬ 
prosy. I left Dr. H. pursuing his labour of love at 
half-past eleven. The hall was then full of applicants 
for relief.” 

Each day seemed to open a fresh glimpse into the 
sanguinary dispositions of the people. “ Off Canton,” 
one morning, he has this entry :—“ Some of the dra¬ 
gon-boats on the river sent against the rebels have 
banners flying, with this inscription on them, c Ap¬ 
pointed by his Lordship the Governor-general to ex¬ 
terminate! ’ What La Perouse says of the Chinese 
Government I believe to be true, that it is £ the most 
unjust, the most oppressive, and the most cowardly, 
in the world.’ ” 

A brighter feature of Chinese life presented itself, 
another day, thus:—“ The literary examinations are 
also going on now in the city. 5200 candidates have 
presented themselves for honours, out of whom about 
seventy-five will be selected. The examinations, 
which are exceedingly strict and conducted in the 
most impartial manner, extend over a period of ten 
days. The degree to be taken on this occasion is 
Kiu-jin, corresponding to our £ Master of Arts.’ The 
B.A. degree is called Suci-tein.” 

The heat continued to be most oppressive. ££ In¬ 
tensely hot all night,” he writes ; C£ unable to sleep 
even on deck with cot hanging to boom.” And, the 


142 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


day following:—“ Night fearfully hot. Not a particle 
of rest to be had. Got up more fatigued than when 
I turned in.” And, the day after:—“ Night fright¬ 
fully close : unable to catch a wink of sleep.” And 
the next:—“ This was the warmest night, I think, I 
ever experienced. There was not a breath of wind 
throughout it; but at about five A.M. it suddenly be¬ 
came overcast, and a fresh breeze from the N.E. 
sprang up, which cooled the atmosphere and at once 
relieved us of that dreadful feeling of oppression in¬ 
duced by the closeness of the night.” 

Another entry gives us a glimpse into the ship’s 
discipline. On September 15, he writes:—“Went 
to night-quarters at midnight ; all hands taken 
aback. The first gun was fired in one minute 
and thirty seconds from the time I gave the order. 
Fired three rounds, both broadsides ; and afterwards 
three rounds from the port side; which was done in 
two minutes and forty seconds. The guns being 
secured, w r e manned and armed ship; first musket 
fired in one minute and twenty seconds from the time 
of giving the alarm.” 

Henry Martyn once asked himself, “ How shall I 
hold heaven constantly in view?” Often, very often, 
did Bate, during these months, urge upon his con¬ 
science the same weighty inquiry. And the answer we 
have in such records as the following:—“Performed 
divine service on board, and afterwards went to 
church on shore. Received the Sacrament—the first 
time since leaving England. Remained on board the 


PROPHETIC STUDIES. 


143 


whole clay afterwards, studying Prophecy .” Such 
studies constantly occupied his mind; and he found 
them eminently conducive to holiness and to growth in 
grace. Ever since he read the Scriptures for himself, 
he had been struck with the prominence given to the 
Church’s “ blessed hope ; ” and it taught him to £C wait 
for the Son from heaven ” with a very simple and 
lively faith. 

“Oh! for a well-tuned harp!” an old confessor 
used to cry, in some of his last and lonely hours. 
Bate also was unconsciously nearing the heavenly 
rest; and, as if already breathing its serene air, he 
would take up his ditty and say — 

“For ever with the Lord! 

Amen, so let it be: 

Life from the dead is in that word, 

’Tis immortality. 

“ Here in the body pent, 

Absent from Him I roam, 

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
A day’s march nearer home. 

“ My Father’s house on high, 

Home of my soul, how near 
At times to faith’s transpiercing eye 
Thy golden gates appear ! 

“ My thirsty spirit faints 

To reach the land I love, 

The bright inheritance of saints, 

Jerusalem above.” 
























* 















































































. 



















■ 



















































































CHAPTER XIII. 


A Parallel. — “ Shady Side.”—Admiralty.—Injustice.— Ordered to 
Tartary. —A Refuge. — “ Closer than a Brother.”— “ Gorgon- 
visage.”—Neglect.—“No Kiss.”—Actseon.— Natives.—“ Dodg¬ 
ing.” — Kidnapping. — Lord’s Day. — The “ Anglo-Saxon.” — 
Outrage. — Macao Roads. — Merchant Ships. — “ No Rate.” — 
Chinese Festivities.— Excessive Heat. — Rebels. — Setting out. 
— Man’s Ways and God’s.—“ End of the Lord.” 


L 


“ Go labour on ! y tis not for nought; 

All earthly loss is heavenly gain ! 

Men heed thee not, men praise thee not ; 
The Master praises ! what are men ? ” 


Havelock a subaltern for* three-and-twenty long 
years ! Bate, likewise, was still doomed to the “ shady 
side ” of official neglect. 

Before leaving England, he had quitted the Sur¬ 
veying department to work out his promotion in the 
regular service; and, on this understanding, he had 
accepted the insignificant command now held by him. 
What, then, was his chagrin, to learn, by a private 
letter that autumn, that, scarcely had his back been 
turned and he was now out of reach on a distant 
station, when the Admiralty, still withholding his 
justly earned promotion, had ostracised him by order¬ 
ing him for four dreary years to the inhospitable coasts 
of Tartary ? te The Bittern, I hear,” he writes, “ is 
to be sold, and her crew sent home ; and Sir C. Wood 
has requested the Admiral to bear me on the flag- 


148 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

ship’s books until he sends out a steamer to enable me 
to proceed to Tartary on a Survey. This is too bad; 
unless he sends my post-commission with her. I was 
in hopes I had washed my hands clear of the H. 0. 
This the Hydrographer knows; and it is hard to 
force me into the service again, unless the appoint¬ 
ment be accompanied by a Commission in recognition 
of my past services in it.” 

Henry Martyn, on one occasion, when smarting 
under a trying disappointment, wrote — “ In prayer 
I had a most precious view of Christ as a Friend that 
sticketh closer than a brother.” Bate, also, was not 
without the same refuge. “ However, it is our duty,” 
he characteristically adds, (i to obey; and I must 
hope that it is all for the best, although it is hard to 
reconcile myself to it.” 

A month later, when the rumour had been finally 
confirmed by his nomination to H. M. S. Actaeon, he 
again writes: —“ I am sure you have heard of my 
great disappointment in finding myself ‘ hooked in ’ for 
a four years’ cruise in these seas, without their Lord- 
ships ever consulting me whether I wished it or not. 
It has made me almost mad with vexation ; and, in¬ 
deed, did I not know that the Lord ruleth, I should 
be quite in despair.” 

O England, England! is it thus that thou recom- 
pensest thy bravest and noblest sons ? Verily, it is 
well for thee, if thy “ Gorgon-visage of neglect ” do 
not turn their generous hearts into 

O 


“ Hard, dead stone.” 


SHADY SIDE 


5 ) 


ORDERED TO TARTARY. 149 


e( 


No misdeed so dishonours thy fair escutcheon as this 
checking and chilling of thy children. 

“ It is a pang;, keen only to the best, to be injured well-deserving, 
And slumbering Neglect is injury — ‘Could ye not watch one 
hour ?’ 

When God Himself complained, it was that none regarded, 

And indifference bowed to the rebuke, Thou gavest me no kiss 
when I came in.” 

Awaiting the arrival of the Actaeon, he cruised 
for some weeks longer in the Canton-waters. 

One evening, as he was walking “ on shore,” he en¬ 
countered an incident which he records thus :— tfc Two 
Chinese men appeared to be dodging me over the 
hills.” Doubtless, they were watching for an oppor¬ 
tunity to way-lay and murder him. It is one of the 
revolting features of Chinese life. Since that time, 
in the neighbourhood of Canton, an English surgeon, 
walking alone one day, was kidnapped and decapi¬ 
tated ; and, in a few minutes, his headless corpse was 
hidden in an extemporised grave. And, some days 
afterwards, as two officers were sauntering along a 
quiet lane, they observed some “ braves,” with match¬ 
locks and large knives, skulking behind, with the inten¬ 
tion of killing them : suddenly the strangers pulled 
out their revolvers, and the dastards precipitately 
fled; but, as the officers passed along, they came 
upon two graves, which some accomplices had dug in 
the road, obviously to receive their decapitated bodies. 
Another of his entries is as follows:—“Performed 


150 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


divine service on deck. Read to the ship’s company 
one of Mr. Melvill’s Sermons (Gen. iii. 2, 3: e The 
misrepresentations of Eve.’) Immediately after our 
own service, I attended that of Mr. Macey. He had 
a full congregation, and preached very effectively. 
He had an afternoon-service at five, at which there 
were about twenty-five persons, including two ladies.” 
And, ten days later, he adds : — “ Visited Mr. Macey 
at the Bethel. He returned this morning from Can¬ 
ton, having been under medical treatment up there 
for the last five days. The illness is, no doubt, to be 
ascribed to his unremitting attention to a man who 
has for some time past been lying in a very precarious 
state from venereal disease of the worst possible form, 
and who died on the 5th instant. The atmosphere of 
the man’s cabin was fetid to a degree.” 

Some days later, he says :— (( Walked on shore in 
the evening. It was too hot to enjoy the walk over 
the hills. I felt quite tired after going over them. 
The heat prevents any rest at night, however tired 
you may make yourself in the day.” 

And again :—“ Gathered a few Chinese names on 
shore this evening, while conversing with some 
Chinese. In the morning the captain of the c Anglo- 
Saxon’ came on board to complain of his men being 
drunk and troublesome. Sent an officer and three 
marines to quell the riot. Communicated with Mr. 
vice-consul Bird verbally on the subject, and sent 
three of the worst of them to jail. The captain had 
his wife alongside in a boat, being compelled to resort 


CANTON-WATERS — INCIDENTS. 


151 


thither owing to the indecent language the men were 
using.” 

One day he visited the Macao Roads. “ Waited,” 
he writes, “on the Governor, who is an officer in the 
Portuguese navy, and speaks English well. We then 
put up at Mr. Duddell’s Hotel; board and beds, 
three dollars per day. Bittern 'weighed, and anchored 
in 2>\ fathoms off Macao at 3 p.m. Saluted the Por¬ 
tuguese flag with 21 guns, which was returned with 
the same number. The nature of the bottom off 
Macao is exceedingly soft, so that vessels may anchor 
safely in very little over their draught at low water. 
Some of the ships touch at low water.” 

Another day, when off Whampoa, he says :—“ The 
English ship f Hibernia’ anchored for tide about two 
miles below us. Mr. Copeland, the master of her, 
sent on board for Whampoa mean-time. He had 
obtained the error of his chronometer by our time- 
ball when at Whampoa, and was now about to put 
to sea without a rate but for the circumstance of fall¬ 
ing in with us. We gave him Whampoa mean-time 
by ball at six o’clock. It is wonderful how indifferent 
some of the captains of merchant-ships are! putting 
to sea without a rate for their watches! a sea which, 
above all others, requires the most careful attention 
in navigating it.” 

Anchored off Canton, he writes: — “ Performed 
divine service. Very warm under the awnings. 
Went on shore to church at the Factories. Mr. 
Gray preached a very good sermon. Remained on 


152 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

shore at Mr. Parkes’ until the 5 P.M. service, and, 
after a stroll round the Gardens, came on board 
at 7.” 

The following day:—“Chinese preparing the 
streets, with numerous decorations, lamps, &c., for 
the autumnal festivities. They last four days.” 

And the next: — “ The weather now is exceed¬ 
ingly hot. The northerly wind, blowing over the 
city, makes the Factories almost unbearable. They 
say September is the hottest month in the year from 
this very cause. Several Imperial junks, filled with 
soldiers, moving about the river. 1 imagine they are 
in attendance on the Vicerov, who left this the other 
day for Pekin. Nights very close and sultry. Mus- 
quitoes on the increase. 92° in my cabin the greater 
part of the night.” 

And, three days after:—“ Yesterday was the hottest 
day that has been registered at Whampoa for the last 
twelve years; and, as for this place, I think to-day is 
about the warmest which has been experienced for 
many summers. The temperature of the atmosphere 
so closely approximates that of the body, that the 
want of a cool medium to carry off the moisture from 
the latter is felt as most depressing. Feeling very 
unwell: this excessive heat causes great exhaustion 
and loss of natural strength. It completely pros¬ 
trates me.” 

Five days later, he says : — “ Exercised port- 
watch at quarters. They cleared for action and fired 
three rounds in 2f minutes. Numerous boats, fall of 


INCIDENTS — SETTING OUT. 


153 


Chinese troops, moving up the river into the Fatchan 
creek. There is a report that the Rebels are gaining 
ground in every direction. Rice is getting very 
scarce, and the price rising daily. The insurgents 
are only waiting for the rice-crops to ripen, to open 
the campaign.” 

At last, orders arrived to take the old craft to 
Hong-Kong to be broken up. On reaching it, he 
had a note from Dr. Hobson : — <tf I am so sorry I 
did not know, in time, of your leaving the Canton- 
waters, as I should have liked to come on board and 
wish you good-bye. If I don’t see you before you 
sail for Tartary (cold and dreary Tartary), I can 
only say, my best wishes will attend you. May your 
survey be speedily and successfully performed; your 
body and mind kept in health; and, above all, may 
your soul prosper and enjoy much of the divine pre¬ 
sence and blessing in your northerly expedition ! ” 

Man proposes, but God disposes ; — the sequel will 
show—how. 

“ Mighty issues are impending, God alone can view the end; 

But ftnceasing blessings follow those who find in Him their Friend." 


I 







/ 








CHAPTER XIV. 


Canton.—“ Must make fight first.”—A Lorcha Boarded.—Another. 
—The “Arrow.” — British Colours Hauled Down. — Twelve Pri¬ 
soners. — Reprisals. — Yeh. — Junk Burnt. —Forts Captured. — 
Demands.—Yeh’s Manifesto. — “Pleads of Englishmen.”—Bom¬ 
bardment. — Night-reconnoitre. —Escape — Glass Shattered.— 
The Breach.—“ Waving a flag.”—“ The sight left my eyes.”—Ad¬ 
miral’s Summons. — Rejoinder.— Fresh Plostilities.—Bogue Forts. 
—Command of River.—Native Proclamation.—“ Sweep out every 
Fragment.”— Conflagration.— Factories Destroyed.— Retreat.— 
Characteristic Incident. 


<c We bid them listen quietly, as thankfully we tell 
Of lives spent all unselfishly, of deeds of valour done. ” 


157 


“Must make fight first!” was the brief but em¬ 
phatic apophthegm in the mouth of the Chinaman, 
as sundry hints — more or less distinct—had recently 
reached him, of the foreigner’s determination to open 
the gates of Canton, and to enjoy a more unrestricted 
trade. 

Not many days before Bate quitted the Canton- 
waters, an incident had occurred, indicative of the 
hostile intent of the native authorities. “ A lorcha,” 
he writes, “ anchored up here yesterday, and, in doing 
so, fouled a mandarin boat: whereupon they boarded 
the lorcha, and took one of the crew a prisoner until 
reparation, for the damage alleged to have been done 
in fouling;, should be made. The owner of the lorcha 
complained to the consul; but, on finding that he had 
no clearance-tieket from Hong-Kong or sailing letter, 
he refused to recognise her as a British vessel. I also 
cautioned him, that, if he came in sight of the Bit- 


158 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


tern having no colours or papers on board, I would 
seize him.” 

But a graver event followed. Early one morning in 
October*, as a lorchaf, bearing the British flag, was 
lying quietly at anchor off Canton,—she was boarded 
by a Chinese officer and a party of soldiers, who, 
notwithstanding the remonstrances of the master (an 
Englishman) seized twelve of her crew, bound and 
carried them away, and hauled down the union-jack.J 

Instantly the outrage was brought to the notice of 
Yeh, the imperial commissioner, by her Majesty’s 
consul, Mr. Parkes,—who required that the twelve 
men should be returned by the same officer who had 
carried them off — that an apology should be made, 
and an assurance given that the British flag should 
in future be respected. Eventually, the twelve pri¬ 
soners were sent back ; but not in the public manner 
demanded, and all appearance of an apology was 
pointedly evaded. 

The next step was to seize an imperial junk; but 
Yeh gave no sign of yielding. Then two steam- 
frigates were ordered to Canton, to lie off the Factory; 
still without any result. And, at last, it was re- 


* 8th October, 1856. 
f The Arrow. 

t The Colonial Chaplain, the Rev. J. Irwin, M.A., writes: — 
“ Captain Bate expressed to me his regret that his ship had left the 
river just before the outbreak, his strong conviction being that his 
presence would have sufficed to check the Chinese and prevent 
bloodshed.” 


CANTON—BOMBARDMENT. 


159 


solved— <£ both as a display of power without the sacri¬ 
fice of life, and as a proof of our determination to 
enforce redress”*—to seize the defences of the city of 
Canton, — “ experience of the Chinese character,’’ 
the Admiral adds, £f having proved that moderation 
is considered by the officials only as an evidence of 
weakness.” 

Accordingly, the whole force proceeded towards the 
city,—capturing, on their way, several forts, including 
onef which we shall revisit in the sequel, and de¬ 
scribed by the Admiral as “ a very strong position on 
an island in the middle of the river, and mounting 
eighty-six guns.” The Viceroy obstinately refusing 
reparation, a body of marines was landed to protect 
the Factory; the Dutch Folly — a fort with fifty 
guns, on a small island opposite the city—was taken ; 
and another body of troops occupied the streets in 
the rear of the town. 

Once more an appeal was made to the Governor, 
now with the additional demand that all foreigners 
should have the same free access to the native autho¬ 
rities and to the city as was enjoyed under treaty at 
the other four ports. Yell replied by issuing, under 
his own seal, and by publicly placarding, a proclama¬ 
tion offering a reward of thirty dollars for the head of 
every Englishman. At the same time, nearly all the 
Chinese servants quitted the Factory. And nothing 
remained for our forces but a bombardment of the town. 

5(1 Admiral Seymour’s official despatch. 

f “ Macao Fort.” 


160 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


Within the old city, surrounded by a high wall, 
was a large space of ground called the Yamun (or 
High Commissioner’s Compound) and containing his 
Excellency’s residence. Upon this afire was opened, 
and steadily kept up, from mid-day till sun-set, an¬ 
other vessel shelling the native troops on the hills 
behind Gough’s Fort in the rear of the city. 

The inhabitants in the vicinity had been warned 
by our Admiral to remove their persons and property; 
and, during the whole of the succeeding night, they 
were busily engaged in this operation. The object 
now was to open a clear passage to the city-wall; 
and, all the next day, two 32-pounder guns, re¬ 
moved for the purpose from the Encounter to the 
Dutch Folly, maintained a raking fire, till at length, 
towards evening, partly through the aid of the con¬ 
flagration of a large mass of houses in the line of 
attack, the wall opened to their view. 

That night, amidst the stillness, an officer sallied 
forth from the flag-ship to reconnoitre. The Chinese 
were prowling about in. every direction; but the 
, stranger, with his life in his hand, quietly surveyed 
the position, and returned at day-break to report 
“ the practicability of a breach.” It was Commander 
Bate.* 

In the course of the morning, a storming party was 
formed; and Bate volunteered to lead it in person. 

* He had been placed on the hooks of the flag-ship until the 
Actaeon should arrive from England. 


BRAVERY-MOUNTING THE BREACH. 161 


Iii the interval, as he stood on the bridge of H.M.S. 
Barracouta, surveying the position and placing the 
ships, a grape-shot smashed his glass and slightly 
wounded his hand. But, nothing daunted, he put 
himself at the head of the attacking party — mounted 
the breach — seized a Chinaman’s flan; — waved it 

with a cheer — and in a few moments the whole 

0 

party was on the parapet in possession of the wall.* 
The parapet bristled with loaded guns; but the 

* “ The way,” writes the Admiral in his official despatch, “ was 
most gallantly shown by Commander Bate, whom I observed alone 
waving an ensign on the top of the breach.” 

The Colonial Chaplain of Ilong -Kong, the Rev. J. Irwin, referring 
to the same scene, w'rites : — “I went up to Canton at the time of 
the first bombardment of the city and of the entrance into the Ya- 
mun. All had done their duty gallantly; but Captain Bate was 
singled out as most conspicuous for his coolness and bravery. One 
officer said to me, ‘ The sight left my eyes, when I saw Captain 
Bate standing alone on the breach amidst a shower of balls and a 
cloud of dust.’ The only other officer or man who came up for some 
time was Mr. Johnson, late Master of the Bittern. It was not rash¬ 
ness which placed him in this exposed situation; but he knew the 
locality better than the other officers, and so got the start of them.” 
And Mr. Irwin adds : — “His great coolness and self-possession in 
danger were frequently remarked. From his wonderful escapes, 
both on this occasion, and in leading the Barracouta when the spy¬ 
glass which he held in his hand was shattered by a grape-shot, it 
was said, ‘ The bullet was not cast which would kill Bate.’ ” 

And another friend, also then resident in China, writes, in allu¬ 
sion to this occasion, thus :—“ Our beloved Captain Bate’s Christian 
graces now shone brighter and brighter, and proved to the world that 
the best men are indeed the bravest. He never flinched in any mo¬ 
ment of danger ; for he knew upon whom his hope was set, and 
dreaded not any evil.” 

M 


162 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

“ braves ” fled — the gate was blown to pieces by a 
couple of charges of gunpowder — the main body 
of the assailants entered — and the day was ended 
by a visit of inspection by the Admiral to “the house 
and premises of the High Commissioner,” the whole 
force retiring at sunset, and the object of the as¬ 
sault, which was to convince Yeh that they had 
power to enter the city, having been fully accom¬ 
plished.” 

Still Yeh did not yield. “The city of Canton,” 
wrote the Admiral to him, “ is at my mercy. You 
have it in your power to terminate a state of affairs 
so likely to lead to the most serious calamities. The 
deliberation with which I have so far proceeded must 
have satisfied you of my reluctance to visit the con¬ 
sequences of your acts upon the inhabitants of Canton. 
But, should you persist in your present policy, you 
will be responsible for the result, and will learn, 
when too late, that we have the power to execute 
what we undertake.” The only rejoinder was an 
offensive evasion, charging the “barbarians” with 
the blame of the rupture, and carefully avoiding the 
subject of their demands. 

The fire was re-opened from a 68-pounder mounted 
in the Dutch Folly, being principally directed at a 
fortification crowning a hill in the rear of the city, 
hitherto considered impregnable; and, although at 
extreme range, several shells burst within the works, 
“ the effects of which,” says the Admiral, “ must 
have undeceived the authorities as to their supposed 


YEII — FURTHER HOSTILITIES. 


163 


security in that position.” Another day, a fleet of 
three-and-twenty war-junks, collected under the guns 
of the French Folly, were attacked and demolished,— 
Bate with his accustomed skill and bravery leading the 
ships through the narrow channel in the face of a 
battery of one hundred and fifty guns. The fort itself 
was taken, after “ an animated fire sustained by the 
Chinese with great spirit for at least thirty-five 
minutes.” 

The next step was to take possession of the Bogue 
Forts. The Admiral sent a summons to the chief 
mandarin to deliver them up “ until the Viceroy’s 
conduct could be submitted to the Emperor.” <f No,” 
replied the mandarin, on the expiry of an hour, “ I 
cannot: I should lose my head; and I must there¬ 
fore fight.” The forts were fully manned, having 
upwards of two hundred mounted guns; and the 
troops stood to them for an hour, till the enemy 
entered the embrasures. At that moment, the man¬ 
darins made their escape in boats waiting to receive 
them, their unfortunate followers rushing into the 
water until they were assured of their safety by the 
efforts made to save them. 

A few days later, the capture of another series of 
forts, “ on the opposite side of the Bogue entrance, 
and mounting two hundred and ten guns,” completed 
the operations. And the command of the river was 
now in the “ barbarians’ ” hands. 

Might not the population of the city (it was thought) 
begin to feel the inconvenience of such an occupa- 

M 2 


164 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

tion of their River, and coerce the Governor into 
submission ? 

The Admiral had mistaken his man. A week or two 
passed; and Yell issued another proclamation. “ Since 
1 have taken charge of my office,” said he, addressing 
the soldiers and people, ee you have looked upon me 
as your father, and I have looked upon you as my 
children. Four years ago, the rebels arose in several 
hundreds of thousands, and you ventured with united 
strength to resist them, which was very meritorious, 
not leaving a fragment of their remains. Now they 
have again raised disturbances, attacking our heavenly 
dynasty, destroying forts, burning the ships, and mak¬ 
ing war on the city. The anxiety on this account 
has entered into my very bones and marrow ; and 
your united wrath, too, has been aroused. Now I 
have received the Imperial commands c firmly to hold 
and resolutely to fight and maintain the war from the 
public Treasury—to blockade the river and sea— 
and to sweep out every fragment.’ ” 

It was determined to await the arrival of reinforce¬ 
ments from England. 

Meanwhile, a secret project was on foot, to burn all 
the foreign factories. At last, one night, in the middle 
of December, a conflagration burst forth simultaneously 
at different points, aided by combustibles, fire-balls, 
and rockets, thrown from the suburbs. The fire com¬ 
menced an hour before midnight; and, in spite of 
every effort to arrest it, it raged till every house was 
destroyed, except one which was forthwith gutted by 


FACTORIES BURNT-TENDERNESS. 


165 


the Chinese. The boat-house and church, beino* 
detached from the factories, were untouched, and be¬ 
came the quarters of our force on shore. 

In that “ retreat ” we shall have another glimpse 
of Bate, and of the movements of his inner life. 

We conclude the chapter with an incident of this 
period, illustrative of that singular tenderness of heart 
which, brave as he was in action and firm in duty, 
he never failed to manifest. 

It was after the cannonade of the Bogue forts. The 
batteries had been silenced, and he was landing with 
a party to seize the place. As they proceeded, he 
halted for a moment, and charged them “not on any 
account to fire on the flying Chinese after they had 
evacuated the fort.” Scarcely, however, had they 
entered, when one of our fellows fired; and the ball 
took effect on the face of a Chinaman, carrying off 
the nose and front part of the face. “ I never,” said 
he to a friend afterwards, “ saw such a sight, as the 
poor creature stretched out his arms in an imploring 
attitude.” <c He assisted himself,” writes the same 
friend, “ to convey him for surgical assistance; but 
he was soon beyond the reach of human aid. 4 I was 
strongly tempted,’ he added, 4 to cut down the fellow 
who thus wantonly took away life.’ ” 







































. 


















' 

, 




. • 























































































CHAPTER XV. 


)■ 


Secret Glimpses.—“ Consulate.”— Correspondence. — “In tears.”— 
“My poor gallant Bitterns.”—“Whip Addie.”—Warning.— Pro¬ 
clamation.— “ Our heads.”—Excessive Cold.—“ Organ-loft.”—A 
Shift.— Entrenchment.—Bible burnt—Night-attacks.— Howling 
Wind.— Sympathies.—“God kas a reason,”—Land of Beulah.— 
“ The harbingers.”— Child-like Eaith.—Longings. — Parallels.— 
“By thy love.”—Growing Attractiveness.— A Testimony.— Idio¬ 
syncrasy.—Breadth of Soul.— “Greatest of virtues.”—An Aspi¬ 
ration. 




\ 


M 4 


c ‘ Can there be solitude, my God, with Thee so near ? 

Can 1, in Thy glad presence, know distress or fear ?— 

In joy or woe, in life or death, my prayer shall be, 

My Shelter, Shepherd, King ! I would be found in Thee.” 


169 


Before joining him for a moment in the “ organ- 
loft,” we obtain some secret glimpses of him during 
the events of the preceding weeks. These will now 
be understood, in the light of the narrative recorded 
in the preceding chapter. 

On Nov. 14, writing from the “ British Consulate, 
Canton,” to a young friend at Hong-Kong, he says:— 
ff When I returned very late last night with the 
Admiral from the taking of the Bogue Forts, my 
sleepy head was wound up by reading your nice 
chatty letter. It was such a pleasure to get it; for I 
had had no news of any kind since Monday last, the 
day we sailed to take the forts. It is quite true that 
I had my glass cut in two and bent double by a shot 
whilst on the bridge of the* Barracouta. I also re¬ 
ceived a slight contusion of the arm at the same time. 
Thank God, those poor missionaries are safe. How 
is Mr. Y-? You tell me, by the last report, he 



170 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN AV. T. BATE, R.N. 

was still living. I have a flag for you — one of my 
‘trophies of war;’ so I hope you will value it. I 
wish this affair was over. I am sick and tired of 
taking forts and seeing poor wretched Chinamen 
knocked over. We are very happy up here. The 
Chinese threaten us with an attack every night; and 
yesterday in broad daylight they tried to blow up the 
Niger.” 

Another day, he writes:—“Yesterday morning, 
we had a smart brush with some war-junks and a 
fort. I was on board the Barracouta, and never felt 
the shot flying about my ears so plentifully before. 
The Chinese made an effort last night to set fire to 
the ships, but of course failed. Poor creatures! I 
wish they would give in.” 

And again:—“1 am just off to sink a large junk at 
the entrance of a creek, from which they have been 
annoying us with fire-rafts or gun-boats.” 

One day, he was visited by a friend from Hong- 
Kong, the Colonial Chaplain, who writes:—“When I 
saw him at Canton, he was just about to go down to 
Whampoa to attend the funeral of the marines who 
had fallen. All of them, I think, belonged to the 
Bittern. He was in tears, and said, 6 It makes me 
sad to think that the loss has fallen on my poor 
fellows.’ ” ' • ■ . 

Himself alluding to this on the following day, he 
says:—“ I went off to Whampoa ^yesterday to bury 
my poor gallant Bitterns, almost the only men who 


GLIMPSES — CORRESPONDENCE. 171 

fell at the assault. Poor fellows!! after four years 
and a half’s hard service, too! ” 

In the same letter, referring to a child of the 
family, he playfully adds :—“ c Whip ’ Addie for me. 
Tell your aunt I will try and get a Tartar whip for 
her out of the Imperial Commissioner’s house, instead 
of an English one which I promised her.” 

Some days later, he again writes from the “ Con¬ 
sulate ”:—“ When I have five minutes to spare, I 
must take advantage of it to answer your welcome 
letter. On Thursday we took the French Folly, 
with the loss, thank God, of only one killed, and two 
or three wounded. Some little casualties, however, 
occurred afterwards, whilst blowing up and demolish¬ 
ing the batteries. Tell-I have a nice little match¬ 

lock for him, which I will send down the first good 
opportunity. I have also a rocket-arrow for him, as a 
specimen of a Chinese lethal weapon. The affair w T as 
very well done. The Fort was in our possession at 
7.15 a.m. ; and, about noon, it was no more. 

“ Poor Captain Cowper’s accident,” he continues, in 
the same letter, “was most melancholy — was it not? 
It occurred the day before we took the Fort. Poor 
fellow ! he was all ready to embark the following 
morning with implements to blow up the French Folly. 
I pray God it may be sanctified to us all up here; and 
may we remember that in the midst of life we are in 
death! 

“ In the French Folly,” he proceeds, “we found a 
proclamation offering one hundred dollars for our 



172 MEMOIR OE CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 


heads, and something higher if taken alive. A reality 
has been given, I am sorry to say, to these proclama¬ 
tions, by the murder of two of our men, who foolishly 
went into a village opposite Macao-fort for the pur¬ 
pose of getting some vegetables. The rascals managed 
to get the head of the marine ; the blue-jacket took 
to the water and was drowned. The Barracouta 
floated down this morning, and is now burning the 
village.” 

And he adds : -—■“ I am glad you achieved the trip 
to the top of Victoria-peak. I would give anything 
for a stretch up there. We get plenty of exercise 
here, but not exactly of the right kind. The weather 
is getting severe; and I must attribute this wretched 
scrawl to desperately cold fingers — I can hardly feel 
my pen. I hope to be at Hong-Kong shortly; I want 
to come down to see my gallant Bitterns off in the 
Winchester. We have now ‘ quiet nights in the 
trenches.’ The Chinese keep us alive now and then 
by throwing rockets and firing a gingall occasionally.” 

We now follow him to the “ organ-loft.” Writing 
to a friend in England, Dec. 27, he says:—“The 
night the last mail started (this day fortnight) the 
Chinese burned us out of house and home, the only 
buildings not destroyed by their fire being the Church 
and boat-house. All hands are living the best way 
they can. The consul and I have taken up our quar¬ 
ters in the organ-loft of the Church. The Admiral 
and suite are on board the Niger, so terribly crammed 
that the Captains have to sleep under a kind of canvas 


THE “ ORGAN-LOFT”—PRIVATIONS. 173 

hurricane-house fitted up on deck; and the Marines, 
small-arm men, and a company of the 59th Regiment, 
rough it out in the Club-house and under tents in the 
Garden. We have entrenched ourselves just in the 
rear of the ruins of the Factories, by throwing a line 
of defence across the centre of the gardens, taking in 
the Church. We expect an attack to-night. God 
bless and watch over you all! 

44 P.S.—My old favourite Bible was burned, with 
several other books, when the Factories were de¬ 
stroyed. You must send me out one.” 

Two days later,he again writes to his friend at Hong- 
Kong, still dating from the 44 Organ-loft, in the Church, 
at Canton ” :— 44 1 am quite alarmed to see the date 
of your welcome letter. Since the receipt of it, 
however, I have not been particularly well. I hurt 
my back jumping across a ditch once; and the cold 
getting at it whilst sleeping in the open air all night 
so completely floored me, that I was obliged to go for 
a cruise in the Barracouta. It is not all right yet: 
and I have a splitting headache into the bargain. I 
have been very busy,” he adds, 44 making a plan of 
our position for the Admiral, to send home by this 
bi-monthly. We were all on the tiptoe of expectation 
last nioht for an attack. I wish I had a Victoria- 
peak — about twice its height — to run up every 
morning before breakfast. We are regularly im¬ 
prisoned in this place ; exercise is out of the question. 
The rats are very plentiful in the organ-loft here at 
night; and the cold wind howls through the Church 


174 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


with the most dismal tone. I hope you all spent a 
merry Christmas; mine was not much so, as I was 
laid up with my back.” 

During the occupation of the mainland, he regularly 
conducted the worship of the troops. And, with 

“ A heart at leisure from itself,” 

he found moments to spare even for distant sufferers. 

• “ My love to yourself and to dear-,” he wrote, 

at the close of the year, to a bereaved friend in Eng¬ 
land ; “ I wish you both, with all sincerity, the choicest 
of God’s blessings on the coming year. All for the 

best, dear-. It is a great change. A few years 

more, and it will appear as a tale that is told; and 
the chastisement will be seen, more strikingly than 
now, in all its merciful bearings, for God has a reason 
in thus dealing with you.” 

Before another year expired, he was himself to be 
with his Lord ; and it seemed as if already he was 
breathing the air of the land of Beulah. 

“ The harbingers are come. See, see their mark !” 

At the close of the letter just quoted, he adds : — 

“ May the Lord direct me in all things !” Day by 
day, he leaned more simply and confidingly on Him. 
Like the Hebrew warrior in one of his hours of soli¬ 
tariness, he could say — “ O God, Thou art my God ; 
early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, 
my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land 
where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory.” 




WINNING ATTRACTIVENESS. 175 

And, like another lowly saint, also deeply tried, but 
thro’ grace “ more than conqueror — 

“ I love my God ; but with no love of mine, 

For I have none to give: 

I love thee, Lord; but all the love is Thine, 

For by Thy love I live.” 

And a new attractiveness seemed to gather on him, 

in the eyes of all his fellows. Some Christians there 

are, so uncouth, so perverse, so angular, that, the longer 

you know them, ee the more arduous it is to love 

them.”* How Bate unconsciously drew other hearts to 

him, we may gather from the words of a brother-officer 

who was constantly with him in those closing months. 

“ Thrice happy,” says he, “ those who belonged to 

him ! I count it all honour, and am proud to feel, that 

I was in any way so nearly attached to him. I knew, 

by intimate intercourse in public and in private, the 

nobility of that mind, in which an unworthy thought 

or motive of action never dwelt. He faithfully re- 

proved, when it was needed ; but he wa3 the truest and 

staunchest of friends. And I loved him with all my 

«/ 

heart. The good officer ; the thorough seaman ; the 
perfect gentleman ; the Christian ; zealous in his pro¬ 
fession; devoted to his country; worthiest in the so¬ 
cial circle ; the faithful and consistent disciple of his 
Saviour, whose light so shone before men, that men 
saw his good works, and glorified God in him ! But 
the idiosyncrasy of his nature—that peculiar charac- 


* Rev. Dr. James Hamilton, in his “ Great Biography.” 


176 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, Ii.N. 


teristic which so distinguished him from, and placed 
him above, his fellows — was the breadth and en¬ 
largement of his mind which could not harbour a little 
thought in his own breast, nor be content to let one 
rest in the breast of another. And, doubtless, it was 
that charity,” he adds, “ which suffereth long and is 
kind, which vaunteth not itself, seeketh not her own, 
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, beareth all 
things, hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth 
all things — that greatest of virtues, charity, which 
guided all his actions. God give me grace and ability 
to follow in his steps, if haply I may find a place near 
him before the throne ! ” t 


CHAPTER XVI. 


His Closing Year. —How begun.— Self-denying Duty. — “All my 
Springs in Tliee.” — A Crisis. — Chinese Outrages. — A Tra¬ 
gedy. — Admiral's Anxieties. — Council of War. — Bate’s Pro¬ 
posal. — Appointed to Macao fort. — Garrison. — Perilous En¬ 
terprise.— Glimpses. — Privations. — “A Night in the Trenches.” 

— Hair’s-breadth Escapes. —Providential Care. — Night-attacks. 

— Gingalls. — Rockets. — “A young Lady of forty-five.” — 
“Bully me most frightfully.” — “A painted Savage.” — Fresh 
Attacks. — An Escape. — “ Too conceited.” — A Broomstick. — 
Choice Dish. —The Missionary. — Daily Worship. — A Conver¬ 
sion. — “ My dear little Fellow.” — The Flag. — “ Stupid wooden 
Dolls.” 


N 


“ King of glory, King of peace, 

I will love thee : 

And, that love may never cease, 

I will move thee. 

“ Sev’n whole days, not one in seven, 
I will praise thee : 

In my heart, though not in heaven, 
I can raise thee.” 


179 




We now enter on Bate’s closing year; and it found 
him in his wonted pathway of self-denying duty. 

“ Ye are told of God’s deep love : they that believe will love Him: 

They that love Him will obey : and obedience hath its blessing.” 

Such was, more and more, the spring of Bate’s 
daily life; and it made him happy and contented even 
in the hardest service. An example at once of his 
manly energy and of his generous self-sacrifice we 
are now to record. 

The conflagration at the Factories had inspired the 
Chinese with fresh courage; and the decision of the 
admiral to postpone all active measures of reprisal till 
the arrival of reinforcements from home had been 
construed into a proof of weakness and of fear. Ac¬ 
cordingly, one night, a small postal steamer had been 
attacked betwixt Canton and the Bogue Forts by a 
large fleet of “ Mandarin junks; ” the pilot and one 

N 2 



180 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


of the crew had been killed, and two others wounded; 
a lorcha which she was towing, laden with a rich cargo 
from the Canton warehouses, had been captured; and 
the steamer itself had narrowly escaped the same fate. 
Some days later, another postal steamer, while on her 
way from Canton, had been cut off by a party of 
natives, who were on board as passengers for Hong- 
Kong, but who proved to be emissaries of the Chinese 
government, hired to perform the tragedy; all on board 
had been murdered, with the exception of some native 
passengers ; and the vessel itself had then been run 
ashore and burnt. At Hong-Kong, too, a diabolical 
scheme had been concocted, to poison the foreign 
community by mixing their bread with arsenic, and 
had been defeated only by the largeness of the quan¬ 
tity of the poison, which immediately betrayed its 
presence. Attempts, moreover, of the most daring 
kind had been made, almost nightly, to blow up and 
burn our men-of-war. In short, it seemed as if 
Yell’s threat to “ expel the barbarian ” was about to 
be carried into successful execution. And so difficult 
a task did it appear for our force to maintain its 
position, that the admiral, after burning the western 
suburbs of the city, at length had proposed to with¬ 
draw from the river. 

A council of war w'as assembled; and there seemed 
no alternative but to retire. Bate was there; and, 
feeling strongly how unwise it would be to give the 
Chinese even the semblance of a victory, he volun- 


MACAO-FORT—OFFER TO HOLD IT. 181 


teered to fortify and to hold the Macao-fort*, at 
whatever personal risk and discomfort. The offer was 
accepted ; and, whilst the Garden was evacuated, and 
the church and boat-house were immediately burnt 
by the Chinese, he received from the admiral a force 
of three hundred men, and proceeded to the fort, 
resolved to keep open the river, despite any efforts of 
the Chinese to block it up. 

The task was one demanding not a little both of 
energy and of patient endurance. A few days pre¬ 
vious, whilst the admiral still lay off Canton with 
several sliips-of-war, an attempt had been made of the 
most resolute kind to gain possession of the fort. 
Towards midnight, and at a dead low neap tide,” 
when none of our vessels could encounter the “ passage” 
so as to render any effective help, a large squadron of 
war-junks had suddenly approached below the battery; 
and so well planned was the attack, that, not until the 
flag-ship had been obliged to stand for some hours on 
the defensive, and the rise of the tide had warned the 
Chinese that they must retire into the shallows to 
avoid our fire, had the little garrison been relieved. 
But Bate was not daunted; and, therefore, though 
the withdrawal of the force from Canton left the fort 
“ the advanced position,” he boldly set his face to the 
enterprise, and, with a band of three hundred men, 
took up his post on the little island. 

* Also sometimes called “ Macao-passage fort,” and “ Tea-totum 
fort.” 


N 3 


182 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

Our first glimpse of him in this “ Patmos ” is in a 
letter to a friend in England, dated <( February 12, 
1857.” “ I am sure,” says he, “ you have heard all 

that is of interest concerning our movements in this 
quarter. Since we have been compelled to retire 
from immediately before Canton for want of an ade¬ 
quate force to attack and to keep open our exclusive 
line of river-communication, I have had the honour 
of commanding this our advanced and most important 
position. It is not a very luxurious one ; for, besides 
being at times hard up for something to eat and 
drink, we are annoyed nearly every night watching, 
and in some instances repelling, the attacks which 
the Chinese make on the fort. You will hardly 
believe it when I tell you, that for four months I 
have not taken off my clothes to turn into bed ; and 
the luxury of a pair of sheets is almost beyond my 
recollection.” 

A week or two later, he writes to another friend, 
thus:—“ We seldom get a night’s rest, from the 
Chinese attacking us so frequently. From nine P. M. 
to half-past eleven, they are pretty sure to open fire 
on the fort from positions on either side of the river, 
taken up sometimes inland, at other times in row¬ 
boats at various distances, where our guns cannot tell 
with effect, for no country affords better shelter or 
greater facilities for carrying on operations against a 
fort situate as this is, than that immediately around 
us. Thanks, however, to a merciful Providence and 
to good mud walls, they have only succeeded in 


MAC AO-FORT — PRIVATIONS. 


183 


killing three of our men as yet; and, as for capturing 
the fort, I will, with God’s help *, hold it against all 
China. The Chinese are a most contemptible enemy, 
as long only as we are active; but, immediately we 
cease , they commence with their mode of warfare, 
which is illustrated in their burning of the factories, 
in the £ Queen ’ and £ Thistle ’ tragedies, in the atro¬ 
cious poisoning case, and in their recent acts of 
assassination and of cutting off unarmed parties; 
besides burning and blowing up all they can get at. 
In fact, it is a subtle enemy we have to deal with— 
an enemy whose cowardice in the field is only 
equalled by the abominable atrocities they commit 
out of it. We are anxiously waiting for reinforce¬ 
ments, to enable us to advance against Canton. 
Delays are dangerous. We must attack in good 
earnest, less as a measure of retaliation than of de¬ 
fence ; for, if we do not attack them, they will attack 
us. I have rather a heterogeneous kind of garrison 
under my command, consisting of sailors, marines, 
and part of the 59th Regiment, making a total of 
about three hundred men. It is the advanced posi¬ 
tion ; and, having no ships to support us, we are liable 
to be assailed on all sides.” 

The occupation continued to entail upon him the 
most harassing and exhausting labours. “ These 
wretched Chinese,” he writes to a friend in Hong- 
Kong, “ try to annoy us nearly every night by firing 

* The Italics are Captain Bate’s. 


N 4 


184 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, K.N. 


pintails at the fort. Last night, at about ten o’clock, 
I was walking up and down the parapet, grum¬ 
bling to myself first about the Actseon, and then at 
not hearing from one of the inmates of St. Paul’s, 
when whizz came a gingall-ball into the bank, not 
half-a-dozen yards from me ; and then a desultory 
fire was kept up for about three-quarters of an hour 
afterwards. We did condescend to take notice this time, 
because some of their shot fell pretty close; and we 
administered a correction out of an eight-inch mortar, 
which I imagine must have had a good deal of opium 
in its composition, as it had the effect of sending them 
to sleep for the remainder of the night! ” 

In the same playful mood, he refers to another 

matter, thus: — “ What makes Mr. L- think I 

am going to be married ? Please tell him from me, 
there is no such good fortune in store. The Ad¬ 
miralty take care of that. No ! I am afraid I am 
destined to be an old bachelor against my will, or, if 
I live to return home in the Actaeon bald and gray¬ 
headed, will have to put up with some young lady of 
forty-five, with a shrivelled-up neck and long hatchet- 
features, who will insist on appropriating a certain 
article of my attire, and bully me most frightfully. 
If I could get home now, tell him, whilst only half 
my head is gray, I might stand some chance of se¬ 
curing peace and quietness in my old age. We are 
quite out of the pale of civilisation here, — not a ship 
near us; so, you must make allowances, if you see 
me like a painted savage when I return to Hong- 



MACAO-FORT — INCIDENTS. 


185 


Kong. I must put this to one side now, as I see no 
chance of sending it. f Dieu vous benisse ! ’ ” 

Then, after an interval, he says : — “ How time 
has slipped by ! Look at the date of this!!! I 
might have consumed no end of your good cakes all 
this time. A report was current, some days ago, 
that the fort was to be attacked,—the truth of which 
we had the pleasure of realising both last night and 
the night before. The rascals commenced each night 
at half-past nine, by firing round-shot, gingalls, and 
rockets, from positions taken up either in the creeks 
or well inland on either side of the river, affording 
good shelter from our guns. Last night, they con¬ 
centrated a heavier fire on the fort than I have seen 
yet, and kept it up two hours and a half. Shot and 
rockets were whizzing about in all directions : hap¬ 
pily, however, beyond opening a little daylight into 
the roof of a house here and there, knocking a sen¬ 
tinel’s cap off his head, and sending a rocket so close 
to the captain of marines, that the back-fire from it 
w r ent down his hack inside his clothes , scarifying the 
person a little, no particular damage was done, al¬ 
though there were two or three very narrow escapes. 
I always hold our fire as much as possible, in the 
hope of bringing their row-boats closer; besides, it 
makes them too conceited , if we return it often. My 
men play the game in daylight. I am satisfied now, 
that the best weapon to fight these fellows with is a 
good broomstick. I suppose they will try it again 
to-night. No opportunity yet of sending to Hong- 


186 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


Kong; so I shall put this on one side for another 
week or ten days.” 

The day following, he writes : — “ As usual, the 
Chinese gave us two hours’ amusement last night. 
Their shot and rockets came flying about the fort in 
all directions ; but, most Providentially, not a soul 
was hurt. One man had a rocket through his trow- 
sers. How we all escaped so well, a gracious Pro¬ 
vidence only knows. They fired uncommonly well; 
every shot either hit the fort, or passed in good di¬ 
rection right over it. I can’t write any more to¬ 
day.” 

The next morning :—“ No attack last night; but 
three shots were fired at the fort at day-break. I 
had half a mind to try a rat for breakfast this 
morning. Very hungry and nothing to eat.” 

The Sunday passed; and, the day after, he 
writes:—“I received your welcome letters to*day; 
and truly delighted was I to hear such good ac¬ 
counts of -. My grumbling was all turned into 

praise. In the former part of this letter I told you 
I did not believe you had not written ; and you see 
I was right. I hope to be able to get down soon, to 
be present at the christening of my little god-child. 
As to your going home, I shall believe it wdien I see 
you off in the steamer. For a wonder, we had f a 
quiet night in the trenches’ last night,—not even a 
rocket discharged at us.” 

During the occupation, he conducted the worship 
of the garrison, and with great fervour and unction. 



MACAO-FQRT— DAILY PRAYER. 


187 


“ The dreary months,” says a friend then in China, 
which he passed in command of the fort—a position 
of difficulty and considerable danger—he turned into 
a time of improvement to himself and others. Instead 
of being discontented at the many privations to which 
he was exposed, he was always cheerful, and encourag ¬ 
ing those around him to be so. He instituted daily 
prayer in the fort — a blessing which, though not at 
first appreciated, was the means of leading many to 
think more seriously, and had a most beneficial effect. 
Of the seed thus scattered none can tell how abundant 
may be the harvest.” 

One other glimpse presents itself, and one emi¬ 
nently characteristic. tc My dearest little fellow,” he 
writes to a youthful relative in England, ce I am so 
pleased that you have got the multiplication-table 
all off and at your fingers’ ends and also with the 
very nice drawings you sent me, that I have preserved 
the flag, which I captured on the walls of Canton, as 
a present for you. It shall be sent home by the first 
favourable opportunity. The Chinese try every night 
to take this fort; but I think it will be a long time 
before they succeed, especially when we put all our 
strength in God, while they put theirs in stupid 
wooden dolls, which can neither see, hear, nor 
speak.” 





CHAPTER XVII. 


Gleam of Sunshine. — Promotion. — Congratulations. — Round- 
Robin. — His one Aim. — Not a Stoic. — “ Top of the Tree.” — 
“ No more Begging and Hunting.”— Secret of his Popularity. 

— Two kinds of Praise.—“A Fragrant Perfume.” — Unselfish¬ 
ness. — Glimpses. — Night Attacks. — “ Subtle Enemy.” — Priva¬ 
tions. — Consolations. — Fatherly Discipline. — Quitting the Fort. 

— A Soul saved. 


“ So I saw that despondency was death, and flung my burdens 
from me, 

And, lightened by that effort, I was raised above the world; 

Yea, in the strangeness of my vision, I seemed to soar on wings, 
And the names they called my wings were Cheerfulness and 
Wisdom.” 


191 


That spring a gleam of sunshine fell upon his 
shady path. “ Purity of motive,” it has been said, 

“ And nobility of mind, shall rarely condescend 
To prove its rights, and prate of wrongs, or evidence its worth to 
others.” 

And calmly and steadily he had laboured on, not 
moved by man's neglect. But now it seemed as if 
the way was to be smoother and less rugged. “ Most 
cordially do I congratulate you, my dear Bate,” 
wrote Mr. Parkes, the British Consul, alluding to 
the intelligence of his promotion to the rank of Cap¬ 
tain in acknowledgment of his recent brilliant 
achievement in mounting the breach on the walls 
of Canton, “ on the good news for yourself brought 
by this mail. You have got your post, I am told; 
and the value of it is, that it has been thoroughly 
deserved. I have not heard how it will affect you — 


192 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W, T. BATE, R.N. 

whether the Surveying or Home is in prospect; but 
you will be guided as is best for you by One who 
will be near you, for you seek to find Him. Sir 
John, who has just come in, tells me to present his 
congratulations,—which, from whatever quarter they 
may come, will, you may depend upon it, be sin¬ 
cere.” 

The Consul’s congratulations were only the key¬ 
note of the joy which pervaded the whole fleet. 
“ This is to certify to Captain Bate, R.N.,” was the 
characteristic round-robin which emanated from one 
little knot of friends, “ that his health was this day 
drunk in Committee, and all farther success wished 
to him by his very faithful friends, Thomas Wade, 
W. Woodoate, Harry L. Parkes. 

“ P. S. Hurrah for the right man in his right 
place. T. W.” 

Another friend, the captain of the flag-ship, 
wrote: —“ No fellow feels more pleasure at congra¬ 
tulating you on your promotion than (no man deserves 
it more), yours, W. K. H.” And another: —“ Among 
the many congratulations you will receive, I feel sure 
that none are more sincere than mine. The only 
satisfactory intelligence received by this mail is the 
promotion of yourself whom we all love and respect.” 
And one other:—“Let me offer my most sincere 
congratulations that you are at last made Captain; 
and, though we all expected it, yet none the less 
pleasure does it give to see your claims thus acknow¬ 
ledged.” 


MACAO-FORT — PROMOTION. 


193 


Bate lived for a nobler end than to court men’s 
praises ; his one aim was to approve himself to his 
Master in heaven. Yet 

“ There is a blameless love of fame, springing from desire of 
justice, 

When a man hath featly won and fairly claimed his honours ; 

And then fame cometh as encouragement to the inward con¬ 
sciousness of merit, 

Gladdening by the kindliness and thanks, wherewithal his labours 
are rewarded.” 

Bate was not a stoic; and he did not pretend to be 

indifferent either to the honour thus tardilv awarded 

%/ 

to him, or to the warm sympathy which it evoked 
from all around him. “ The happy intelligence of 
my promotion,” he wrote, from the Macao-fort, 
Cf has reached me by last mail. I say happy, because 
one feels thankful to get to the top of the tree, and 
take rest. My advancement now is certain ; for I will 
get pushed upwards ‘ nolens volens,’ and no exertion 
on my part will either facilitate or retard me getting 
my ‘ Flag,’ please God to spare me. And, moreover, 
I am, so to speak, independent of the Admiralty; no 
more begging and hunting up interest to get forward, 
or even to get what is justly due to you. Thank the 
Lord for His goodness ! And I trust I should have 
thanked him just the same, if He had thought fit to 
withhold it.” 

And, a few days later, to another friend: —“ I 
am most thankful for your letter written on Christ- 
mas-day, conveying as it does the assurance of 

o 




194 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


the interest you still take in me, and also the kind 
congratulations of all the dear ones around you. 
Most warmly and promptly do I respond to the 
prayer that you may all live, with God’s blessing, to 
meet, not only next Christmas, but for many that are 
to come.” 

A poet writes,— 

“How beautiful thy feet, and full of grace thy coming, 

O better kind companion, that art well for either world ! 

His eyes are rayed with peacefulness, and wisdom waiteth on his 
tongue; 

Seek him out, cherish him well, walking in the halo of his in¬ 
fluence : 

For he shall be fragrance to thy soul, as a garden of sweet lilies.” 

Such was Bate among his fellows. <c I certainly,” 
writes the Colonial Chaplain, already quoted, “ never 
knew any one who seemed to be such a general 
favourite. All classes and all grades spoke well of 
him. In his own profession, and amongst the mili¬ 
tary, there was the same estimate. I had the pleasure 
of knowing intimately many of all ranks in both pro¬ 
fessions, and never met one who did not speak of 
him in the very highest terms.” This explains the 
rare cordiality with which his promotion was hailed 
throughout the whole force. Each one felt almost 
as if it were a personal honour to himself. We shall 
learn immediately how strikingly the same feeling 
showed itself on an occasion greatly different. 

What was the secret of this respectful affection 
which he enjoyed ? 



MACAO-FORT — POPULARITY. 


195 


Bacon distinguishes two kinds of praise. “ If it 
be from the common people,” lie says, “it is com¬ 
monly false and naught, and rather followeth vain 
persons than virtuous ; but, if persons of quality and 
judgment concur, then it is (as the Scripture saith) 

‘ like a fragrant perfume ’—it filleth all round about, 
and will not easily away.” Bate’s popularity was of 
this latter kind; and the source of it is indicated bv 
his friend Mr. Irwin thus :—“ This general apprecia¬ 
tion of him was, I think, owing not simply to his 
rare merit and worth, but to his still rarer manly, 
open-hearted character, and unaffected humility and 
unselfishness.” 

We note these things, not to glorify the man, but 
to point other eyes to the pattern of generous self- 
sacrifice which Bate exhibited so strikingly. Not 
every officer is gifted with his clear head and firm 
hand and eagle-eye; but who may not aim to follow 
him in that “ strong-springed,” lofty nobleness of 
motive and of aim which was graven, as with one of 
heaven’s own sunbeams, upon his every action and 
his every word ? 

Week after week, amidst many hardships and 
privations, he continued to hold the Fort. “Your 
letters,” the Consul wrote to him, one day, “ were 
most truly welcome; and glad indeed were we to see 
that you are so well able to sustain yourself both in 
cheerfulness and in strength in your most trying 
and irksome position; and still more delighted were 
we to notice the hope you hold out to us that you 

o 2 


196 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

may be able to obtain a short relief and do us the 
great good which your presence among us, though for 
a very short space of time, would afford. I can well 
understand, however, that you would be slow to leave 
in the hands of any one the important position you 
hold, and which is not only the bulwark—I might 
say almost the sole one — of our present safety, but 
the key to all our future operations.” 

And another friend wrote :—“ The pleasures of 
Macao-fort must now be exhausted; and I confess 
myself I should prefer my ship to your berth. If 
you can spare time to write a few lines, I should be 
very glad to know how you all fared the night they 
opened such a confounded fire upon you. I was 
then at Powder-island, and could count four or five 
flashes a minute.” 

Some farther glimpses he himself gives us at inter¬ 
vals. Writing to Colonel Maclean, R.A., Comman- 
lant at Carshalton, he says : — “ I was delighted to 
receive your letter of the 8th January; and sincerely 
do I thank you for your kind congratulations. Our 
dear old admiral is a fine fellow, and glad was I to be 
of use to him in all the operations he felt it his duty 
to undertake against this obstinate Commissioner, Mr. 
f Yeh.’ Since we were compelled to retire from im¬ 
mediately before Canton, I have had the honour of 
commanding this our advanced and most important 
position. I have rather a heterogeneous garrison, 
being composed of sailors, marines, and part of 
H.M. 59th Regiment, — which at first amounted 


MACAO-FOHT — CHINESE TACTICS. 


197 


to three hundred men, but now only to two hun¬ 
dred and thirty. The Chinese taking advantage 

v o o 

of our isolated position — for we have no ships 
to support us, they being all employed in keep¬ 
ing open our extensive line of river-communication 
which the Chinese have threatened to block up with 
stone-junks in one or two places, — we get attacked 
nearly every night. They open fire generally about 
nine o’clock, with guns in small row-boats, and with 
gingalls and rockets, from positions taken up on either 
side of the river in the creeks and behind the bunds 
and ridges of land, which, as you know full well, af¬ 
ford admirable shelter from our guns. If the night 
be dark, the rascals send up light-balls, and illumine 
the Fort, for the row-boats to direct their fire. Pro¬ 
videntially, we have only had three men hit, although 
their fire is admirable, not a shot missing. I always 
hold our fire, in the hope of bringing the boats out 
from their cover, and inducing them, if possible, to 
approach nearer; but this they are too wide-awake to 
do. We have now been so long inactive, that it 
gives them great pluck ; for they put it down to 
this, that either we are afraid or we have not power 
to attack.” 

And, in the same letter, he adds :—“ I was greatly 
disgusted at being appointed to the Actason without 
being even asked whether I liked it or not. I detest 
the Surveying-service, and, in taking command of the 
Bittern, was in hopes I had washed my hands clear 
of it. However, all is for the best. I was under the 

o 3 


198 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN TV. T. BATE, R.N. 


impression you had given up all idea of sending your 
boy into the navy, and that you had placed his name 
on the list for an artilleryman. You will get nothing 

out of P-R-; but I admire his honesty in 

telling you, in the straightforward way he did, that 
he could not serve you — so very different from their 
lordships’ usual policy. I hear the Actseon is quite 
full. Things would have been different, had I been 
in England when she fitted out. I should like very 
much to have your boy with me, if you can make 
interest to get him into the service. Fishbourne, also, 
wants to get a nephew into the f Action but I fear 
there is considerable difficulty in getting boys into the 
navy, particularly as we are on the reduction-tack ” 

In another letter, in anticipation of a visit to Hong- 
Kong, he says :—“ If I do come, you must promise 
not to make me keep watch; for a comfortable f all 
night in ’ between a pair of clean sheets will be quite a 
novelty as well as a treat to me. I have not taken 
my clothes off to go to bed since I was last at Hong- 

Ivong, just before the factories were burnt. Tell- 

I hope he keeps his pistol in better order now,—or the 
Chinese might storm the college, in his watch, with 
impunity. The cake you sent is particularly good in 
the middle of the day, and much more wholesome 
than the dust and dirt which abound in this domain 
of mine. I am delighted to hear the colony is quiet; 
and I trust, please God, it will continue so. Say to 

-and --, I shall be very glad if they will 

honour me with a visit at Macao-fort. I can’t pro- 







MACAO-FORT—THE PLANK BED. 199 

mise them much in the shape of luxuries. It really 
was very clever of little Addie. What a retentive 
memory the child must have! How is baby-boy? 
Now' really I cannot write any more rubbish. I must 

go to *-.* I am so sleepy; and, just as one is 

going oft into a slumber, probably bang will go a gun, 
or fire will come a rocket! My house, which is nine 
feet square, is rather in an exposed position, being 
situate on the top of the battlement immediately over 
the gateway, the walls of which are one China-brick 
thick, and quite pervious to gingalls or rockets. 
When you come, however, I will put some sand-bags 
round it. God bless you ! Good night . 55 

And, to an afflicted friend in England, he writes:— 

How mysterious are the ways of God in His dealings 
with either nations, families, or individuals! but may 
you and all who are in affliction take comfort from 
this, that a time is fast approaching when all that now 
seems dark and mysterious to us will be clear and 
bright! And with what wonder and gratitude shall 
we look back on all the dealings of a tender Father, 
who knew from the beginning what amount of dis¬ 
cipline was necessary for us! So that we may join with 
the Psalmist in saying, Thou, which hast showed me 
great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and 
shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth , 5 

* Here he inserts a hieroglyphic for abed, in the shape of a trans¬ 
verse section of a series of planks laid in the most original fashion 
possible, and giving the idea of the utmost, discomfort. For four 
or five months, he had no other. 


O 4 



200 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


and may f forget our misery, and remember it as 
waters pass away.’ But I fear I am irritating what 
I would fain soothe. 

Oh ! for a heart magnanimous to know 
Thy worth, poor world, and let thee go !’ ” 

One other glimpse we have of him in the fort:— 
“ We have not been able,” he writes, “ to take any 
walks yet; and now I fear I shall have to leave with¬ 
out doing so, as I expect the f Coromandel’ over every 
hour, to drag me away from this charming place. The 
poor Raleigh is still hard and fast! I do hope she will 
begot off; but it is an herculean task.” And he adds 
this postscript :—“ I am afraid Mrs. Parker will not 
allow me to take baby to the fort. Is it not a great 
shame of her?” 

Events now occurred, which induced the Admiral 
to abandon a position which, for the last five months, 
had been maintained at so much hazard. And Bate, 
though deeply regretting the step — a regret which 
the subsequent operations amply justified, quitted 
a spot which, with all its perils and privations, had 
been lighted up into a bright sunshine, for himself 
and for others, by that “godliness with contentment,” 
which, anywhere, 

“ Be the pillars of felicity.” 

An event had illustrated that dreary season, which, 
though little accounted of in human annals, is noted 
by the recording angel in heaven. “ One instance I 


MACAO-FORT — A SOUL SAVED. 


201 


know ,” writes a friend then in China, referring to his 
missionary efforts among the men under his command, 
“ of a soul being thus brought from darkness to light 
—to a saving knowledge of his Saviour.” Memories 
like these will live, when all others have perished. 
In the archives of Eternity it is written, fe This man 
was born there.” 



CHAPTER XVIIT. 


A Lull,—Indian Mutiny.—War Suspended.— New Errand.—House 
of Mourning. — A Grave. — “ Tears of Sympathy.” —Forecast¬ 
ings.—“World of Spirits.”—The Admiral. — Testimony.—An 
Emergency.—“Transit.”—Total Wreck.— “Public Auction.”— 
“ Gipsy Life.” — Actseon. — Takes the Command. — Wanted. — 
Interval. — Glimpses. — A Rescue. — “Be Instant.” — “Prayed 
with them.” — Conversation. —“ God’s All-Sufficiency.” — Self- 
Accusings.— “ Thro’ much Tribulation.” — Who is Happiest ?— 
Christ’s Daily Cross. — Its Purpose. — “ Victorious Trial.” — 
Heavenly Teachings.— “ Holy Light.” — “Eyes indeed.” *7 


t 


“ Still, my Master, Thou rcquirest 
Service here a little while; 

Help me, then, to work with patience, 
Cheer me by Thy love and smile.” 


205 


It was the middle of summer, and the first rein¬ 
forcements from England had already reached the 
Chinese waters, when all hearts were startled by the 
outbreak of the Indian revolt. “ China can wait — 
India presses,” was the spontaneous decision abroad 
and at home : the troops were ordered to Calcutta ; and 
Yeh was respited for six months. At their close, 
Captain Bate was to “ finish his course; ” and, mean¬ 
while, 

“ He went zealously forward, God blessing his faith.” 

Scarcely had he quitted the Macao-fort, and re¬ 
paired to Hong-Kong for a few weeks to recruit his 
health, which had begun to suffer from the incessant 
watching and protracted confinement,—when he was 
suddenly summoned on a fresh errand. 

In the brief interval spent at Hong-Kong, he had 
brightened by his heaven-lit presence a bereaved 
mourner’s home. “ In the hour of trial and of 


206 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


sorrow,” writes the Colonial Chaplain, (( I found him 
one of those whose friendship and sympathy were a 
solace. Little did I think, as he wept tears of affec¬ 
tion and of grief over the remains of my beloved 
wife, and assisted with his own hands in depositing 
them in the grave, that so short a time would elapse 
ere he was himself to find a resting-place near hers 
in the same hope of the resurrection to eternal life.” 

Like the Master, he had “ the tongue of the 
learned ” to “ speak a word in season to him that was 
weary; ” and his own joyous hope gave a peculiar 
edge to his words of tender sympathy. “ I hope,” 
he wrote, a few days afterwards to a member of the 
sorrowing family, <e you experience that consolation 
which a firm trust in God, alone, can impart to His 
afflicted children. You have my prayers, poor and 
feeble as they are.” These were not the hackneyed 
phrases of a withered, dead Phariseeism,—they were 
fresh, living distillations from the springing well of 
his full heart. His own departure was to be un¬ 
heralded by any note of warning; and it seemed as if 
already he was unconsciously catching the symphonies 
of the place of rest and of joy. 

“ World of spirits ! bright and lovely, 

Where the wearied find their rest; 

Where no sin, no danger enters, 

Where no cruel foes molest. 

Oh ! it is not all such darkness ; — 

Beams of light break forth for me, 

Once again my hope rekindles, 

And I long to be set free.” 


SYMPATHY — A WRECK. 


207 


One clay, the Admiral remarked to Mr. Irwin — 
“ Wherever duty is to be done, or difficulty or 
danger to be met, there your friend Captain Bate is 
to he found.” An emergency had just presented 
itself; and Sir M. Seymour despatched him to meet it. 

“ I am suddenly ordered off,” he writes, in the letter 
last quoted, “to Singapore and the Straits of Banca,and 
am all in confusion. I leave in the ‘Inflexible’ at four.” 

And, some days afterwards, “ On board H.M.S. 
‘ Inflexible ’ on her way from Hong-Kong to Singa¬ 
pore,” he writes, to a friend in England, thus : — 
“ You doubtless will be surprised to see whence this 
is dated. The mail arrived last Wednesday, and 
brought intelligence that the ‘Himalaya’ had been on 
shore —that the ‘Transit’ was a total wreck in the 
Straits of Banca — and that the ‘ Actreon ’ also had 
been on shore in that locality and knocked part of 
her main and nearly all of her false keel away. The 
Admiral despatched me, at three hours’ notice, with 
orders to proceed to the wreck and see what could 
be done with the troops, stores, &c.; the former to be 
sent to Calcutta without delay. The ‘ Actmon ’ and 
‘ Dove ’ had also been sent to the assistance of the 
‘ Transit.’ We expect to arrive at Singapore the day 
after to-morrow, where probably I shall find my ship. 
When the affair of the ‘Transit’ is over, I am to 
return to Hong-Kong to accompany the Admiral and 
Lord Elgin to the Gulf of Pechili in September. All 
this, of course, is contingent on Indian affairs, which 
at present look rather gloomy.” 


208 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

Two months later, from “H.M.S. ‘Inflexible,’ one 
hundred miles from Hong-Kong,” he writes :—“ My 
last letter to you was written on board this vessel 
when about the same distance from Singapore as we 
now are from Hong-Kong. I was then on my way 
to join, as I supposed, the ‘ Actason ; 5 but, much to 
my disappointment, I found she had left for Hong- 
Kong just four days previously to my arrival. 
However, as I had business relative to the unfor¬ 
tunate ‘ Transit,’ I did not so much care about 
missing her, and proceeded immediately to Banca, 
the scene of the disaster. We arrived on the 2nd 
August, and found the people encamped on shore in 
a bay, about a quarter of a mile from the wreck. 
The ‘Transit’ was stiff in the position in which 
she first settled down after striking, her bows thirty 
feet out of water, and stern in nine fathoms,—in 
fact the very reverse of the picture the ‘ News ’ had 
of her some months ago. As I had full authority 
from the Admiral to act with regard to the dis¬ 
posal of the vessel in the way I considered most 
advisable, I at once made up my mind to put the 
old craft up to public auction just as she stood, with 
all the stores that were under water, everything 
having previously been recovered which could be got 
up. The vessel’s back is broken; and the damage 
she has otherwise sustained does not make it worth 
any one’s while to attempt to save her. 

“ I walked across the island by a jungle-path,” he 
continues, “to visit the Dutch authorities; and, as 


THE “ TRANSIT THE “ACTION.” 209 

they have been so very kind to our shipwrecked 
people from first to last, I paid them a great compli¬ 
ment by requesting them to take charge of the wreck 
in our absence —as I had orders to bring all the people 
away— till she was sold or otherwise disposed of. They 
willingly accepted the charge; and, after making a 
survey of the place, we left on the 5th for Singapore, 
the poor ( Transit’s ’ people being right glad to ex¬ 
change their gipsy-life in the jungle for the clean, 
wholesome deck of a man-of-war. We have lost one 
poor fellow from fever ; and our upper deck is turned 
into an hospital, for the accommodation of several 
men, who, now that the excitement is over, tumble 
into the doctor’s list at a rapid rate.” 

And he adds :—“ I published a notice, which per¬ 
haps Mr. 4 Punch ’ will get hold of, that the vessel will 
be sold by public auction on the 10th of Sept.; and, 
whether the Admiralty approve of it or not, I believe 
it to be a providential thing she is lost; for all hands 
agree that she would have foundered at sea, in the 
next gale of wind she encountered.” 

Ten days later, he subjoins this postscript: — 
ce August 28. On my arrival at Hong-Kong, I found 
my ship, the f Actseon,’ in harbour; and I took the 
command on Friday, the 21st.” 

He must now have sailed for Tartary, to pass, upon 
its inhospitable shores, an exile of four years; but 
Canton was still to be taken, and Bate could not yet 
be spared. Accordingly, he was directed to cruise in 
the Chinese waters, until the operations against the 

p 


210 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

city could be begun. Some occasional glimpses into 
his inner life in those months, reveal a gradual ripen¬ 
ing for the glory which he was so soon to enter. 

One day, at Macao, during a fearful typhoon, hear¬ 
ing that a small brig had been disabled, and was in 
distress, he went out to her relief, and arrived just in 
time to prevent her becoming a prey to pirates who 
were hovering around her. “He seized the opportu¬ 
nity,” writes a friend in China, already quoted, “ to 
speak seriously to the master and mate of the ship, 
whom he heard swearing — pointed out how merciful 
Cod had been in delivering them from so great danger 
— and, after talking to them very earnestly about 
Christ, he knelt down and prayed with them.” 

Another day, in conversation, a friend remarked 
that the believer, though relying fully on God’s pro¬ 
mises, often forgot them at the right time, but that 
there was one precious truth on which the soul, how¬ 
ever tempted, could cast itself, as on a sure resting- 
place, “ Because I live, ye shall live also,” — adding, 
that, when fears and doubts oppressed, and the dark¬ 
ness was so thick that no ray of light could penetrate 
it, this promise of Christ was sufficient, and more than 
sufficient. “Yes,” said Captain Bate, “it is quite 
true; but I prefer such a truth as 4 Jehovali-jireh ’ 
—God all-sufficient; for, in the application of a par¬ 
ticular promise, I am afraid that I may sometimes be 
mistaken, but, in simply depending on God’s all-suffi¬ 
ciency, I never can.” 

A week or two afterwards, in conversation with the 


CONVERSATION — CHARACTERISTICS. 


211 


same friend, he was deploring deeply his “ evil heart 
of unbelief,” his “ body of sin and death,” his short¬ 
comings, and the slenderness of his attainments—“ so 
far beneath what they might be consistently with his 
privileges and his experience.” “ But the Christian 
life,” interposed his friend, “ is a struggle—a race — 
a conflict; and remember, that, if you are so con¬ 
tinually harassed by sins of infirmity, the great apostle 
of the gentiles was the same.” “ Yes,” Bate replied, 
“ we must through much tribulation enter the king- 
dom.” And, after a few moments, he added : — “ I 
am sure those are happiest, not who escape trials the 
most, but who are enabled to bear them the best.” 

On the same occasion, the conversation taking 
another turn, some one remarked, that Christ was 
Himself “ made perfect through suffering ”—that He 
“ learned obedience by the things which He suffered ” 
— that He Himself took up a daily cross, and that 
we could not be exempted from it. “ I have often 
wondered,” said Bate, “ why Christ should take up 
the daily cross, seeing He was already perfect. Was 
it, that those long nights of prayer so often recorded, 
that patient endurance of the contradiction of sinners 
against Himself, had the effect of raising the human 
element in Him beyond the glory of its original in¬ 
nocence and purity ? ” 

And, another day, returning to the same subject, 
he said : —“It is, indeed, a great mystery—a depth 
which we cannot fathom; but don’t you think, that, 
inasmuch as virtue tried and triumphant ranks Hr 


212 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


higher than innocence, it must have been necessary 
that Christ, if he was to possess our nature in its ut¬ 
most perfection, should possess it in a state of victori¬ 
ous trial ? ” 

Cowper writes — 


“ If His word once teaeh us — shoot a ray 
Thro’ all the heart’s dark chambers, and reveal 
Truths un discern’d but by that holy light, 

Then all is plain. Philosophy, baptized 
In the pure fountain of eternal love, 

Has eyes indeed.” 

Who does not feel, on reading those thoughts of Bate’s, 
on a theme so transcendental, that he has been walk¬ 
ing in God’s own living light, and, in that light, “sees 
light”? 

And it was not a barren dogma, hut a felt reality, 
vividly graven on his heart by the finger of the Cross¬ 
bearer. Those tedious and weary hours, which he 
had passed so uncomplainingly, were spent at the feet 
of Him who “ spake as never man spake.” And who 
ever sat there in vain ? — 

“ Thou teachest much by chast’ning 
For old, besetting sin ; 

By pain, by want, by weakness, 

By ceaseless discipline. 

Thou teachest by temptations, 

By weary vigils kept, 

By deep and earnest conflicts, 

By troubled slumbers slept.” 


CHAPTER XIX. 


A Parallel. — “ Asking Advice of God.” — Hostilities resumed. — 
Last Sunday on Shore. — Presentiment — “ Sacrament again ? ” 
—“Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”—His Papers. — Private Cabin. 
— Bible-Study.— Esthetic Gift. —“ Scripture Promises.” — Two 
Texts. — Word in Season. — Fervent in Spirit. — A Reminis¬ 
cence. — “ Last Sermon.” — “ Not Slothful in Business.” — 
Capacity for Affairs. — “ Leads the Advance.”— “ Grand Confer¬ 
ence.” — “ Of the Lord.” — Ultimatum. — Yeh. — “ Eat Gold 
Dust.” — “ Our Allies.” — An Honour. — Mandarin.— “ Aspen- 
leaf.” — Scene in Cabin. — “ Illustrated News.” — A Request. — 
“ Sufficient for the Day.” —“ A Good Time Coming.” 


P 3 


0 


“Trust in God, to strengthen man; — be bold, for lie doth 

help.” 


215 


One Christmas-day, during the memorable defence of 
Jellalabad, the “illustrious garrison” was assembled 
on parade, when a well-known voice gave the word— 
“ Let us pray ! ” It was Havelock, leading the army’s 
thanksgivings to God, who “ had in His mercy en¬ 
abled them to complete the fortifications necessary 
for their protection.” Bate, also, was not ashamed 
to be known to take everything to the feet of Jesus. 
“ His judgment,” writes an officer of the fleet, “was 
most accurate, as events always proved; and the 
secret of it was, as he has told me, his constant habit 
of asking advice, in everything, of God.” 

“ Experience had declared too well his mind was built of water ; 
And so, renouncing strength in self, he had fixed his faith in God.” 

Towards the end of the year, the expedition—now 
at liberty from the pressure of the Indian crisis — 
prepared to storm Canton. The Emperor did not 

p 4 


216 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

dare to make peace till the city had been taken; and 
Yell, knowing that its surrender would be ruin to 
himself and his family, did not dare to give it up, 
determining “ rather to blow the whole place into the 
air.” There was, therefore, no alternative but to 
strike a decisive blow. Accordingly, at the end of 
November, the fleet was ordered up the Canton-river; 
and Bate, in the Actseon, proceeded to join the force. 

His last Sunday on shore was spent at Hong-Kong; 
and it almost seemed as if a presentiment had taken 
hold upon him that he should, ere long, 

“ Speed, emancipate, to where the stars are suns.” 

“ That day,” writes a survivor who knew him in¬ 
timately*, “ he was with us, at a mutual friend’s 
house, where we both were guests. He received the 
sacrament with us ; and, on leaving church, he took 
hold of my hand, and said — 4 1 wonder whether we 
shall ever receive the sacrament together again ? ’ 
During our walk, that afternoon, he spoke much of 
the uncertainty of life, and remarked, that, in going 
up to Canton, he felt he ought to remember this espe¬ 
cially; ‘but,’ he added, emphatically and with a sweet 
smile, ‘ I know I am safe in the arms of my Saviour, 
in life or in death.’ ” 

The presentiment showed itself in another little 
incident. “ When he was ordered up by the Ad¬ 
miral for service at Canton,” writes the colonial 


* The wife of Mr. Parkes, the Consul. 


LAST CAMPAIGN—CHARACTERISTICS. 217 

chaplain, “ he gave me his instructions and papers, 
to be kept in my iron-safe, adding; ‘ If anything 
should befal me, deliver these into the hands of the 
Admiral.’ ” 

The day before he sailed, we have a glimpse of 
him, in his cabin, in the Actseon, at his favourite 
occupation — studying the Scriptures. 

Havelock devoted two hours, every morning, even 
in his busiest days, to quiet meditation over the 
TV ord. (i The walls and trees of my orchard, could 
they speak,” said Bishop Ridley, (< would bear wit¬ 
ness, that there I learned by heart almost all the Epi¬ 
stles,—of which study 1 shall carry the sweet savour 
with me to heaven.” Bate, too, loved his Bible; and 
many a quiet hour was given to its holy teachings. 

That morning, there was breakfasting with him a 
friend who had come to bid him farewell. When 
breakfast was over, they took up the Scriptures, and 
read and prayed together. Peter’s denial presented 
itself. “ A noble character! ” Bate observed; “ and 
perhaps, he never loved his Lord more intensely than 
when weeping over his denial of Him.” 

A little afterwards, they came upon Herod the 
tetrarch and the dark scene in the fourteenth of 
St. Matthew. “ Whv,” remarked Bate, u did Herod 
speak respecting Jesus to his servants. Was it, that 
Joanna, his steward’s wife, had been healed by Him, 
and had followed Him and ministered to Him, and 
then that probably the servants ’ would thus know 
more about Him than any of the nobles of the land?” 


218 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

His friend now enquired if lie had seen “ Blunt s 
Undesigned Coincidences,” adding, that this incident 
was mentioned in it as a striking example of “ coin¬ 
cidence without a design,” thus proving incidentally 
the truth of the Gospel-narrative. “No,” said he, 
“ I have never seen it, but these things interest me 
greatly.” . 

A poet writes,— 

“ The Bible only stands neglected there, 

Tho’ that of all most worthy of his care ; 

And, like an infant troublesome awake, 

Is left to sleep for peace and quiet sake.” 

Not thus did Bate treat the Word. “ His perfect 
equanimity,” writes a surviving friend, who knew 
him well*, “was the result of a continual study of 
the Holy Scriptures.” When he fell at Canton 
mortally wounded, there was found in his pocket, all 
stained with blood, a little book of “ Scripture-pro¬ 
mises,” with these two texts hastily marked, evi¬ 
dently that very morning — “ We knoiv, that, if our 
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we 
have a building of God, an house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens; ” and, “ Through God 
we shall do valiantly.” “ That field of promise,” says 
the same poet,— 

“ How it flings abroad 
Its odour o’er the Christian’s thorny road ! 

The soul, reposing on assured relief, 

Feels herself happy amidst all her grief, 

Forgets her labour as she toils along, 

Weeps tears of joy, and bursts into a song.” 


* Captain Collinson, R.N., C.B. 



CHARACTERISTICS — LOVE OF THE BIBLE. 219 


Few understood tlie secret; but not often lias the 
light shining in the lively oracles transfigured a daily 
walk into a brighter “ living epistle,” than was seen 
in the brave officer whose brilliant apotheosis we are 
about to record. “ His holy, consistent life,” says 
a friend who parted with him for the last time that 
day before sailing for Hong-Kong, “ contrasted so 
strongly with the world! Ilis bright, joyous face, 
was such an index of his noble character! None 
could gaze upon it without seeing he enjoyed a peace 
which nothing could take away. And he was so 
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” 

A sailor of the Actaeon, one day, not long after 
his captain’s death, wiping away, with his sleeve, 
the tear from his weather-beaten cheek, said—“ I 
never will forget the last sermon he preached to us. 
It was from the text, f Not slothful in business, fer¬ 
vent in spirit, serving the Lord.’” 

It was now to be seen, once more, how a Christian 
could deport himself in life’s most trying crisis. 

“ I hear,” wrote an old shipmate to him, that 
autumn, “ that you are indispensable to the Admiral.” 
Seymour knew what stuff he was made of; and he 
was not the man not to give him his right place. 

On November 25, “ On board H. M. S. Actseon, 
four miles from Canton,” Bate writes to a friend in 
England, thus: — “We are now really mooring 
towards Canton. I came up here on Monday, and 
am now busily employed lightening the ship, to get her 
over a barrier which obstructs the passage about four 


220 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


miles below Canton. I believe I am to have the 
honour of leading the advance when we go up, as I 
know the river so well. I have had rather an an¬ 
xious night: the junk alongside, with all our pro¬ 
visions and shot in her, sprang a leak, and we have 
been obliged to 4 pump all night.’ I see the gunboat 
for the mail is coming down, so I must close. God 
bless you! ” 

And, on Dec. 8, also 44 on board the Actaeon,” he 
writes :— 44 I am commencing this, some time before 
the mail leaves; for I expect to be so very busy, in a 
few days, that I shall hardly have time to write. 
Our forces are nearly all out, the 4 Adelaide ’ having 
arrived with detachments. The 4 Princess Char¬ 
lotte,’ 4 Blenheim,’ and 4 Sans Pared,’ are expected 
hourly; the French are all ready; and we .are now 
only waiting for the Plenipotentiary to say, 4 Go on.’ 
They have had a grand conference at Macao. Of 
the result no one knows, except that it is agreed that 
the French take part. This I am rather sorry for : 
we ouodit to have taken Canton ourselves, and then 
invited France to go on with us. However, He who 
rules the destiny of nations directs also the counsels 
of the Plenipotentiaries: so, come what it will, it is 
of the Lord. He 4 creates good ’ and He 4 creates ♦ 
evil’: we see only 4 through a glass darkly’; but 
the true light will be revealed to us hereafter.” 

Two days later, he continues :— 44 Dec. 10:1 have 
just been inundated with a lot of Frenchmen—diplo¬ 
matic and executive—who have come to the front to 


CANTON PREPARING TO STORM. 


221 


c makes see figure.’ Tomorrow, we go up to Canton 
in two gun-boats, with a flag of truce, to deliver the 
‘ ultimatum ’; and, on Monday, we advance, for the 
purpose of taking possession of part of the island of 
Honan, and of mounting the wall by the south side of 
the city, pending Mr. Yell’s reply. If he do not con¬ 
cede our demands in a given period (ten days), the 
combined forces of England and of France attack the 
citv. The inhabitants have been warned to take 
such steps as they think advisable, under the cir¬ 
cumstances, to save their lives and property. 

“ As the mail,” he proceeds, in the same letter, 
C( does not leave this part of the river till Sunday after¬ 
noon, I have to give you an account of the proceed¬ 
ings which come off to-morrow. I don’t think Yell 
will yield. He cannot concede our demands without 
ruin to himself and family. The old fellow might 
get over the difficulty by eating gold-dust; perhaps 
he will do so. I have forwarded f our allies,’ with a 
copy of my surveys. The French officers dined with 
me yesterday ; and I breakfasted with them to-day, 
after which I received a * Memo ’ from the Admiral, 
nominating me as the officer to go to Canton (with 
the Chinese secretary) to deliver Lord Elgin’s and 
the French minister’s c ultimatum.’ This is an honour 
I confess I did not, expect.” 

And, three days later, he says:—“We went up 
off the city in two gun-boats, one French and one 
English, each towing a gig with the flag of truce 
flying. When near the appointed spot, a mandarin’s 


222 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

boat met us, to which we pulled and delivered the 
‘ ultimatum.’ The poor fellow quivered like an 
aspen-leaf. I made a good reconnoissance of the 
place, and found they had made little or no prepara¬ 
tions for defence, at least on the river,—all the forts 
being in the same ruined state as when we left them, 
now nearly twelve months ago. The river is not even 
blocked up; and there is plenty of water for the 
f Actmon ’ to go up at high water. After delivering 
the letter, we returned to our advanced position off 
Macao Fort.” 

And he adds:—“ We shall advance to occupy only , 
on Monday. Yesterday, my cabin was in a sad state 
of confusion : I had Mr. Wade, the Chinese secretary, 
staying with me; and my friend Parkes had just 
arrived ; they were both busy interpreting, whilst the 
Chinese block-cutter was grinding away at the types 
in the fore-cabin. I send you a copy of the c ulti¬ 
matum,’ which has been produced in my cabin: the 
English of it you will see in the ‘Illustrated News,’ 
and also a picture of Yeh and of his old father, which 
I allowed the ‘ Correspondent ’ to copy from those 
hanging up in my cabin. I am writing this in great 
haste. May God bless and preserve us all, and may 
He spare me to meet you before many more Christmas- 
days pass ! ” 

An affecting postscript follows:—“ I really do not 
think I can go on with this horrid surveying, after 
the war is over. Do, dear ones, all of you make it a 
subject of prayer, that I may be guided by Infinite 


THE CABIN — “A GOOD TIME COMING.” 223 


Wisdom in the matter. I do not wish to give up my 
prospects in the service; but I find this incessant 
surveying such a terrible drag and tie to me ! How¬ 
ever, before I decide, I must let events develope 
themselves a little. c Sufficient unto the day is the 
evil thereof.’ Yours in much affection.” 

Yes, brother! thy future is arranged for thee 
by One whom thou wilt never have to regret that 
thou hast loved or served too well. Thou passest 
into the din of mortal strife with little before thee of 
this world’s sunshine; but a better sun will ere long 
rise upon thee — a sun which shall never set. 

o 

“ To go where God may lead thee, 

To live for Christ alone, 

To run thy race unburdened, 

The goal tby Father's throne ; 

To vieAV by faith the promise, 

While earthly hopes decay, 

To serve the Lord with gladness, — 

Be this thy work to-day ! ” 





CHAPTER XX, 


A Longing. — “ Live to Christ ! ” — Canton-River. — A Death. — 
“Far happier.”—Crisis at Hand — Floating Suburb. — “ Pack- 
houses.” — A Barrack. — “ Clearing out.” — A Reconnoissance. 
— Mapping. — Scene on Heights. — “ That Bastion! ” — Plan 
of Assault. — Proclamation. — Day of Rest.—Last Sunday.— 
Harassing Labours. — “If I am spared.” — “Unto my God.” — 
Bitter Pang. — “ No Doubts, no Fears ! ” — Last Sermon. — “ My 
pluck.” — A Contrast. — Coolness under Fire. —“ Shield of ada¬ 
mant.” — The Middy. — Fatherliness. — “ Turning-point of my 
life.” — Altar-Coal. — “ Thy lips.” 


“ Jesu is in my heart ; His sacred name 
Is deeply carved there.” 


227 


(( How I wish I could live to Christ! But—carry¬ 
ing about, as I do, this ‘ body of sin ’—I can hardly 
realise that f to die is gain,’ --although I know that 
4 to depart and to be with Christ is far better ’ than 
remaining here. We must, however, all wait, until 
the Lord has done with us.” So wrote Bate, about 
the middle of December, as he was still moving up 
the Canton river, on his way to storm the city. 

“ He has communed with One whose converse sweet 
Has been of the Invisible and True ; he expects 
Nought less than an eternal rest above. 

This hope it is which makes earth’s sorrows ‘ light,’ 

Which gives the ‘ weight ’ to glory yet unseen ; 

This cheers him on his solitary road, 

When dearest ones have left him for the grave ; 

This bids him smile at pain, and welcome death.” 

He learned that day of a friend’s departure. “ I 
am deeply grieved,” he writes, “ to hear of Colonel 
Lugard’s death, although I believe he is far happier: 

q 2 


228 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

but our loss is indeed a great one. May our heavenly 
Father be with each one of us, and preserve us from 
all danger! ” 

The crisis was now approaching. <f We are now,” 
he wrote, a day or two later, “ only two and a half 
miles from the city. The ‘Highflier’ is about three 
miles astern of me; my old friend is all right. The 
Admiral is expected hourly.” 

At last, on a dark, drizzling night—it was Satur¬ 
day, the nineteenth of December — the tf Actaeon ’ 
anchored in the very centre of a vast mass of floating 
structures inhabited by an hundred thousand people. 
As the morning dawned, there was <e a flutter and a 
panic among the dwellers on the Tvater; ” and the 
floating suburb, tier by tier, gradually melted away. 
Within three hundred yards of Yeh’s yamun, the 
fleet lay moored in mid-stream, awaiting the expiry 
of the period of respite accorded by the Ambassador’s 
proclamation. 

Lining the shore, to the extent of half a mile, was 
a series of strongly built brick “ packhouses,” each 
some two hundred feet in length, and one hundred in 
breadth, the roof thirty feet high, and supported by 
rows of square brick pillars. They were all open ; and, 
before many hours, the largest of them was occupied 
by a battalion of marines. Beds of junk-matting 
were made up along the sides ; arms and accoutre¬ 
ments were hung upon the walls and pillars; and in 
the centre-area the men were <ff squatting or lolling 
round their cooking fires, and frizzling their rations.” 


STORMING OF CANTON — INCIDENTS. 229 


The owners, meanwhile, were clearing out from the 
other warehouses their bales of cotton and their boxes 
of tea; for, up to the last moment, they had neglected 
the warning given them in the proclamation. A 
thousand coolies filled the narrow lane into which 
the doorways opened; and, protected by an English 
guard, the people were hastening away with their 
chattels, evidently feeling that the war was not with 
the population but only with their despotic governor. 

A day or two afterwards, there was a recon- 
noissance, to get a near view of the forts to the 
north of the city.” The Admiral was there, and the 
General, and a large body of the allied force, with 
Captain Bate to map the country, and another officer 
to “ take plans of the fortifications.” “ It was a beau¬ 
tiful breezy walk,” says an eye-witness, “ over a mile 
and a half of undulating country. We were now in 
front of the forts, which rise before us in extended 
panoramic view, stretching along a spur of the White 
Cloud mountain. Little parties of redcoats and blue¬ 
jackets were posted on different hills, to prevent our 
being cut off, and ready to support each other, whilst 
the reconnoitring party climbed the nearest elevations, 
where, within eighteen hundred yards of Gough’s 
fort, and within fifteen hundred yards of a heavily 
armed bastion, the chiefs took a survey through their 
glasses of the heights to be climbed. We are within 
range of all these guns, and tremendous in size they 
are. There are some fellows in that bastion, training 
a gun to bear upon us; and we expect, every moment, 


230 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


to see the puff of smoke. It was a rapid affair that 
reconnoissance. We returned as swiftly as we came, 
and were back in our quarters by six o’clock.” 

Two days later, another reconnoissance revealed 
the approaches of the eastern side of the city. At 
daylight, the party struck inland over low hills 
covered with graves, and, crossing a paved causeway 
leading towards the town, hastened on over dry, hard 
fields of paddy, until they reached an eminence dis¬ 
tant eight hundred yards from the east gate, and 
about as far from the eastern fort outside the city. 
The wall was hidden by intervening trees; but the 
fort was distinct!v visible, and here was to be the 
route of the storming party at the assault. Over the 
wall was the northern half of the citv, with no narrow 
streets, and containing the public offices and pleasure- 
grounds and the great yamuns. The fort had only 
to be taken “ at a rush; ” and from that position the 
wall must be breached or escaladed. The recon¬ 
noitring party were back to breakfast at eleven, 
having accomplished—chiefly through Bate’s masterly 
dispositions—“ a most satisfactory survey.” 

That afternoon, a fresh proclamation was issued, 
and distributed all along the Canton shore, announcing 
that Yeh had rejected the terms offered, and that, if 
the city were not surrendered within forty-eight hours, 
it would be bombarded and stormed. The people 
were warned to “ clear out; ” for the city must be 
taken and Yeh compelled to yield. 

It was Saturday night; and the period of reprieve 


RECONNOITRING — A RANG. 


231 


had expired without any symptom of submission. 
The Sunday was observed as a day of rest, and one 
farther opportunity given to the authorities to avert 
the impending catastrophe. “ We open fire to-morrow 
at daybreak,” Bate wrote, that day, to a relative in 
England ; “ and at noon I leave with the Admiral 
(being attached to his Staff), for the assault of the 
city the following morning. I have been so intensely 
occupied since we arrived off Canton, having the 
whole charge of placing the ships, and making plans 
for I don’t know how many different departments. 
I never spent such a Christmas-day. I went to bed 
wearied in mind and in body.” 

Amidst the quiet, that evening, the brave man felt 
a fresh pang at the prospect of his future service. 
“ Shall I,” he wrote, “give up the f Actseon 5 or not, 
after this affair is over, if* I am spared to see it 
through ? We must hold counsel of God. I wish very 
much to serve; but I am sick of this surveying. I 
have no energy for it now. Do, dear fellow, let me 
know your views. Perhaps I had better hold on, till 
I see my way clearer. As for working as I did in 
Palawan, I’ll not do it; it is of no use. I will do 
my work conscientiously , as unto my Gocl and not 
unto man; and, if they are not satisfied, I don’t 
care.” 

Ah! thy country should have spared thee, in this 
hour, that bitter pang. 

* The italics are Captain Bate’s. 


232 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 


“ Generous and righteous is thy grief.” 

But, 

“ Count thou this for cohifort — 

Another world can compensate for all ; 

The daily martyrdom of patience shall not be wanting of 
. reward; 

Duty is a prickly shrub ; but its flower will be happiness and 
glory.” 

It was his last Sabbath in this vale of tears; and it 
did not pass without leaving a blessing behind it. 
“ I feel,” were his words, in a brief parting note to a 
friend that night, “ that for me indeed 6 to die is gain ; ’ 
but I cannot say, f To me to live is Christ,’ for I feel 
how little I can do for Him. Yet I have that full 
trust in the finished work of the Saviour, that I have 
no doubts, no fears.” 

“ O day most calm, most bright! 

Thy torch doth show the way.” 

Such literally was that day to him. Before another 
Sabbath dawned, he was to be with his Lord for 
ever. 

A survivor of the ship’s company remembers how 
earnestly he spoke to them that morning from the 
Scriptures, urging them most solemnly to lose not 
a moment in “ fleeing from the wrath to come,” 
and affectionately commending them to the grace 
and lovingkindness of the “ Friend of sinners.” 
Like Baxter of Kidderminster, 

“ He’d preach as a dying man to dying men ; ” 
and such preaching is not soon forgotten. 


HIS LAST SABBATH — CHARACTERISTICS. 233 


A week or two previous, an officer was talking to 
a friend* about him. “My pluck,” said he, “ is 
quite a different thing from Bate’s. I go ahead, 
because I never think of danger. Bate is always 
ready for a desperate service, because he is always 

4/ 

prepared for death.” 

“He’d learned to yield all praises unto Him who made him 
strong, 

Who formed him goodly armour, and who bore him through the 
strife, 

Who cheered him on to victory with some guardian-angel’s 
song, 

Who gave to Faith the vision of the glorious crown of life.” 

A few days after that Sunday, another officer 
wrote:—“For coolness underfire no man ever ex¬ 
celled him, and few have been his equal. I see him 
now, standing on the ramparts at Macao-fort, with 
his broad chest fronting the rockets and gingalls dis¬ 
charged at us from the river-banks, as unconcerned as 
if God had placed a shield of adamant betwixt him¬ 
self and the enemy. Ah! I have learnt a valuable 
lesson from him.” 

On the Saturday, a characteristic incident had 
occurred on board, with one of his “ raids.” “ That 
afternoon,” writes the middy, “ he looked at my 
accounts, as it was nearly the end of the quarter; 
and he said,—‘ I see I must let you have the money 
(. 5l . 4s.) which I lent you, till next quarter;’ and, 
when I said, c Thank you. Sir,’ he said, ‘ Oh, I am 

* The Times’ “ Special Correspondent.” 


234 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN AT. T. BATE, R.N. 


not quite ruined yet; and I would sooner let you 
have a pound or two more than that you should draw 
an extra hill.’ He then said— f Now, you must pay 
everything; and as your next quarter’s bill will be a 
heavy one, you can pay me then.’ ” The incident is 
trifling ; but it indicates, not uncertainly, the generous 
heart of the man, and his wise, fatherly treatment of 
the youths under his command. 

When Bate fell, the young mid wrote to his 
mother:—“Captain Bate’s death, I am nearly sure, 
is the turning-point of my life.” 

It was no ordinary man Avhose daily Avalk thus 
told on a gay, thoughtless middy. 

“ Behold, what fire is in his eye, what fervour on his cheek ! 

Upon whose lips the mystic bee hath dropped the honey of 
persuasion, 

Whose heart and tongue have been touched, as of old, by the 
live-coal from off the altar, 

How wide the spreading of his peace ! ” 


CHAPTER XXL 


Storming of the City.—“Boom, Boom!” — Last Letter. — The 
Cabin. — A Psalm. — “ For our comfort.” — “ No evil befal 
thee.” — Landing — Reconnoitring Party. — “ Such a night! ” 
— Shells. — Conflagration. — Last Bivouac. — The Coxswain. — 
“ Captain’s knapsack.” — “ Both kneeling.” — The Advance.— 
A Village. — Council of War. — The “ Forlorn Hope.” — “ Who 
shall go ?” — A Volunteer. — The Heath-Shot. — “ With his 
Lord.” — “ Martyr-Soldier.” 


“ He looked 

Beyond the present to a distant world, 

Where martyrs serve their God with ceaseless love.” 


237 


It was a brilliant morning in the end of December 
and a city of a million of souls had scarce awoke 
from its slumbers, when “ boom ! boom ! boom ! ” 
went our broadsides, and all Canton trembled. 

On board the e Actaaon,’ that morning, Captain Bate 
wrote : — “ We opened our fire at daybreak ; and 
every now and then the guns make my pen jump 
again on the paper. You must excuse this very 
hurried and short letter. I am just going off with 
the Admiral for the landing-place, which is about two 
miles to the eastward of the city. We stop out all 
night, and advance early in the morning. God 
abundantly bless you! Ever yours.” 

Later in the day, at “ 10.30 A.M.,” he hastily added: 
<£ You will see more about this affair in the papers 
than I can tell you now, I am so pressed for time. 


* December 28th, 1857, 


238 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, 11.N. 

The bombardment is going on. City on fire in four 
places. Troops preparing to land.” 

Before landing, he secured a few moments’ privacy 
— the last he was to enjoy. Sitting alone in his 
cabin, with the Bible open before him, he spoke with 
his Father in heaven. <£ I fear,” he had just written, 
as he marked the wild, thoughtless excitement around 
him, {i that our poor fellows are sadly forgetful of all 
God’s benefits.” It was remarked that he was him¬ 
self unusually grave that morning. Death, 

“ The stern and silent usher, 

Leading to the judgment for Eternity,” 

was hovering too near, in those volleys of guns and 
rollings of musketry, not to awe into a deep thought¬ 
fulness a spirit like his. And yet 

“ The dread was drowned in joy.” 

Qalm and self-possessed, and as if craving in that 
hour the fellowship of a kindred spirit, he called to 
him one of his ship’s company, and they read together 
the ninety-first Psalm. Then, hastily adding to the 
half-finished letter on his cabin-table the words, 
£c Read the ninety-first Psalm for our comfort * he 
sallied forth to the post of action. 

Plow characteristic of the man—the reading of that 
Psalm! <f Thou shalt not be afraid,” it said, ££ for the 
terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day.” 


* The italics are Captain Bate’s. 


CABIN-SCENE — LANDING. 


239 


And again—“ He shall cover thee with His feathers, 
and under His wings shalt thou trust.” And yet 
again — ce Because thou hast made the Lord, which is 
my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation,— 
there shall no evil befal thee.” No, the promise of 
his Father could not fail. It was “ no evil” to re¬ 
main in this vale of tears a little longer, if any work 
remained for him to do, or any grace to be bright¬ 
ened ; and it was “ no evil ” to “ depart,” if already 
he were ripe for the glory. 

“ ’Twas joy to think thus far his race was run, 

So many toils and dangers safely o’er — 

His heart was fainting for his Father’s land, 

His long-sought home seemed nearer every hour.” 

And so he went out that day “ comforted,” to meet 
duty as became him. 

At mid-day, he landed with the Admiral. The 
shells and round-shot were sweeping the wall of a 
fort* on the heights; and Bate’s party proceeded in 
another direction to reconnoitre. Before them lay a 
fortf, which, as they approached, seemed to be de¬ 
serted, when suddenly the lower embrasure was un¬ 
masked, and three heavy guns and a host of gingalls 
opened a galling fire. A village was at hand ; and, 
under cover of its huts, the reconnoitring party, now 
supported by a body of artillery and of the 59th 
regiment, brought the Enfield-rifle to bear with such 
effect upon the Chinese gunners in the embrasures. 


* Gough Fort. 


f Fort Lin. 


240 MEMOIR OF C AFT AIN W. T. BATE, It.N. 

that they coulcl no longer stand to their guns. At 
length, some nine-pounder field-pieces were got into 
position ; the place was battered and shelled ; and, as 
a storming column were advancing to seize the fort, 
the “ braves,” after firing a parting volley, evacuated 
the embrasures and disappeared, — an English and 
French flag waving the next moment on the wall. 

The afternoon was spent in desultory skirmishings 
on the neighbouring hills, preparatory to the grand 
assault of the morrow. “ Then came the night,” says 
an eye-witness, — “ and such a night! The ships 
almost ceased firing ; but the city soon became like a 
plain of fire. At first, it appeared as though the be¬ 
siegers were bent upon reducing the city to ashes; 
but the destruction was not without a plan. There 
was a great blaze at the north-west angle, where is 
situated the Chinese guard-house, surmounting the 
gate. Shells and rockets were poured in volleys 
upon this structure ; and it soon became a sheet of 
flame. By constant showers of rockets, the flame 
was led up and down the city-wall; and, in an in¬ 
credibly short time, the long, thin line of fire shot 
high into the heavens, and then subsided into a 
smouldering smoke. The flames did not spread in¬ 
wards, the object being to clear away, from the three 
spots marked out for the triple assault, a line of old 
houses which leant against the inner side of the wall, 
and afforded cover to those gingalls whence all our 
great losses, in affairs with the Chinese, have arisen.” 

Meanwhile, we have a glimpse of Bate in his last 


HIS LAST NIGHT. 


241 


bivouac. “ In the evening,” writes his coxswain, 
who, with three more of his boat’s crew, had accom¬ 
panied him on shore, “ I made the Captain’s bed with 
straw, and the Admiral’s, and mine, and the boat’s 
crew’s. I opened the Captain’s knapsack, and gave 
him his night-clothes, and the Bible and Prayer-book ; 
and he read prayers and a chapter in the Bible to me 
alongside of him ; and then we had a little talk toge¬ 
ther, and he lay down, and so did I. The next morn¬ 
ing, I got up at three, and made some tea; and I had 
some, and my boat’s crew. At half-past four, I 
roused the Captain, and he had a cup of tea. I 
opened his knapsack, and gave him his Bible and 
Prayer-book; and he read prayers to me, both kneel¬ 
ing. He got up and washed; and away he went 
with the Admiral. I packed up all our things, and 
put them on my back ; and I and my boat’s crew 
started after him,—the Captain, Admiral, and several 
other officers leading the way, and the blue-jackets 
and marines following.” 

As the day began to dawn, the “ rocket-practice ” 
gave place to a steady fire from a mortar-battery; 
and Bate’s little party, now joined by the General 
and his staff, proceeded in the direction of the city- 
wall. The point of assault was some two hundred 
yards distant from the north-east gate ; and they 
advanced, in the face of a running fire from the 
Chinese stationed all along the embrasures. 

Arrived within about one hundred yards of the spot, 
they found themselves in a small village, having in 

E 

• • 


242 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN AT. T. BATE, E.N. 

front a huge tree, whose foliage hid it from the 
people on the Avail. To the right, and separated 
from the village and the tree by a wide footAvay, 
Avas a little mud-built cottage, Avhose white-Avashed 
Avail made it a conspicuous object in the morning 
sun. The cottage was entered by the Admiral 
and the General, accompanied by Bate and the 
other officers of their staffs. In a hasty recon¬ 
noitre, they found, some dozen yards in advance, a 
ditch or gorge forty or fifty yards broad. In the inter¬ 
vening space Avas a low earthen fence, surmounted by 
bunches of high reeds, which interrupted the vieAV of 
the spot where the scaling-ladders were to be placed 
to mount the broken embrasure. te All around,” says 
an eye-witness*, (( hurtled a storm of balls and 
rockets from the Avail; and no one could cross to the 
edge of the ditch without imminent danger.” Yet 
some one must run the gauntlet, if the ladders were 
to be set for the escalade. 

One man, there, Avas always ready. He had been 
girding himself, that morning, for such a crisis as 
this; and it found him prompt to act. “ Who can 
tell,” he had more than once asked himself, since the 
little party left the bivouac, 

“ ‘ The trials and temptations coming within the coming hour ? 

Suddenly a “trial” had come ; and not a moment was 
to be lost in deciding. “ Captain Bate,” says the 
same eye-witness, “ at once volunteered to go.” As he 


Times' Correspondent. 




























































































































































HIS DEATH—“WITH THE LORD.” 


243 


rushed across the open patch, to look into the ditch, all 
eyes followed him, and more than one heart throbbed. 

“ He standeth a target-like Sebastian, and the arrows whistle 
near him ; 

Who knoweth when he may he hit ? for great is the company 
of archers. 

Every breath is burdened with a bidding.” 

The “ bidding ” came. “ Our Captain,” says his 
coxswain, who was at his side, “ was in the act of 
taking the distance from the ground to the top of 
the wall with his sextant, when a shot from a gin- 
gall struck him in the right breast. He fell straight 
on the ground, and never moved afterwards. I asked 
him several questions ; but he could not speak.” 

In half an hour, he had ceased to breathe: his spirit 
had gone upward, to be with his dear Lord. 

It was on the twenty-ninth day of December, and 
in his seven-and-thirtieth year. 

“ ‘ No evil shall befal thee.’ 

Blest parting words! 

I hear the echo of their music now: 

Still he lives ; for near Christ’s burning throne 
His spirit dwells, and tastes eternal joy: 

Undaunted martyr-soldier! ” 

In the Roman catacombs, a monumental tablet was 
found bearing this epitaph,—“ In Christ. In the time 
of the Emperor Adrian: Marius, a young officer; he 
had lived long enough; at length he rested in peace.” 
Like him, our dear brother had <f lived long enough.” 
For this, it is not necessary to live to the season of gray 

R 2 


244 ME3I0IR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, E.N. 

hairs. A man may live long in a little time. Bate 
was taken in the hey-day of nature’s strength, “ his 
eye not dimmed, nor his natural force abated; ” but 
it was not too soon—no, it was not, — for he had won 
an unfading crown. 

“ Thou shalt watch no more, lingering, disappointed of thy hope: 
Thy soul is alight with love, — glory, praise, and immortality.” 


THE END. 







4 


hi i&emorianr 


Too high a price.” — The Admiral. — A Great Calamity. — 
“ Faltering tongues.” — “ Swimming Eyes.”—“ Christian Hero.” 

— The Middy. — The Fatal Spot. — The Corpse. — Heavenly 
Halo. — “ Peace within.” — A Contrast.—“ Malignant hatred.” 

— The “Happy Valley.”—Ruined Chapel.— The Burial.— 
“ Sailor’s Pall.” — “A Heaven open.” — A Type. — “ Not un¬ 
manly tears.” — “ How they loved him! ” — “ All Hong-Kong 
mourns.” — The Bishop. — Funeral Sermon. — “ With Christ.” 
—“ Far Better.” — A Reminiscence. — “ Duty Hours.” — Trans¬ 
lation. 


“ The seed and dormant chrysalis bursting into energy and glory.” 


“ I yearn for realms where fancy shall be filled, and the ecstacies 
of freedom shall be felt, 

And the soul reign gloriously, risen to its royal destinies : 

I look to recognise again, thro’ the beautiful mask of their perfec¬ 
tion, 

The dear familiar faces I have somewhile loved on earth: 

I long to talk with grateful tongue of storms and perils past, 

And praise the mighty Pilot that hath steered us through the 
rapids.” 


249 


In jUfUmotiam. 


“ Canton is taken,” wrote a resident in China; 
“ but too high a price has been paid for it, in the fall 
of such a man as our dear Captain Bate.” 

“ Our success,” said the Admiral, in his official 
dispatch, “ has been damped by a great calamity, in 
the death of Captain William Thornton Bate. The 
sad event has thrown a gloom over the whole force.” 

<f Men spoke of him,” wrote one of his lieutenants, 
“ with faltering tongues and swimming eyes. The 
loss was felt —felt by all, by men and officers, by the 
highest and the lowest.” 

“ I was with him,” wrote Mr. Wade, the Chinese 
Secretary, “a minute before he was shot. Every 
one admits our success dearly purchased at such a 
cost. No man was more loved and appreciated, from 
the Admiral down.” 

fC Captain Bate,” said the Hong-Kong Register, 
Cf as usual, ever forward where duty called, was 


250 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 

volunteering to place the scaling ladders, when he 
was shot from the wall through the stomach. He died, 
as he had lived, a Christian hero, with the sounds of 
victory ringing in his ears.” 

“You people at home,” wrote one of his mids, 
“ cannot imagine (not even his sisters) how univer¬ 
sally dear Captain Bate was loved and respected, 
from the Admiral down to the youngest boy in the 
fleet. This is without exaggeration; for I really 
never knew any man who enjoyed a more well-de¬ 
served affection and popularity. His officers and 
men have lost a kind friend and a patient adviser, 
who never tired of doing good, who entered into 
all their pleasures, and assisted them to the utmost 
of their power in all their difficulties. He was firm¬ 
ness itself, but so kind withal, that his most severe 
reproof was better received, and better attended to, 
than most men’s praises. 

“ ‘ All felt his loss ; his virtues we’d tried ; 

And knew not how we loved him till he died.’ ” 

We return for a moment to the fatal spot. “ When 
I found the Captain was gone,” says his coxswain, 
“ the four of us carried him to a fort which we had 
taken, and laid him down. I remained by him till 
two in the afternoon, when a party of blue-jackets 
came from the city to carry him to the landing-place, 
and a body of marines to guard us. I and my boat’s 
crew had to carry him over hills and valleys ; we were 
all very tired; we got on board that night at eleven; 


THE BURIAL. 


251 


we hoisted him, and then put him down in the 
cabin.” 

That noble countenance seemed to beam, even in 
death, with a certain heavenly halo. “ Not a fea¬ 
ture,” says his lieutenant, “ showed sign or symptom 
of mortal agony ; the calm, serene expression gave 
unerring indication of the peace within when his spirit, 
released from its trammels, had found rest from its 
labours in the presence of his God and Saviour. How 
striking a contrast this presented, when compared 
with those of the poor Chinese — on whose faces was 
depicted the intensity of malignant hatred, can only 
he remembered, not expressed or described.” 

At sunset, on the closing day of eighteen hundred 
and fifty-seven, his remains were committed to the 
grave in the cemetery at Hong-Kong. “ Not a fold 
of his dress,” writes an eye-witness, an officer of the 
fleet, “ had been displaced. The doctor had placed 
him in his coffin in the dress in which he fell. Nor 
had any change at the last marred that peaceful ex¬ 
pression which sat on his benign and benevolent 
countenance, whereon were stamped and sealed the 
virtues of his brave and manly soul. A retired spot 
in the grave-yard of the f Happy Valley,’near Dr. 
Gutzlaff and by the ruins of the little chapel, was 
selected by the Bishop, who performed the last offices 
for his friend.” 

The funeral is described by another officer of the 
fleet, thus : —“It was the most affecting sight I have 
ever seen. At three in the afternoon, all the boats 


252 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


assembled near the ‘ Dove,’ and formed two lines ; and, 
as there were several foreign men-of-war at Ilong- 
Kong, and nearly all their officers and boats attended, 
they made two long lines. The afternoon was lovely, 
the magnificent bay like a polished mirror. All the 
ships in the harbour had their flags half-mast, and of 
course all the boats. The * Tribune’s ’ barge had her 
band on board, and towed a cutter with the body; 
the coffin raised well above the gunwale, and the 
sailor’s pall (the union-jack) drooping gracefully 
over coffin and boat: then another cutter, with the 
remains of the poor little ( mid.’ As they left the 
‘Dove,’ the ‘Tribune’commenced firing minute-guns; 
the barge and cutter passed down between the two 
lines of boats, pulling very slowly ; the band played 
the ‘ Dead March in Saul,’ those glorious notes 
floating over the face of the waters not broken by a 
ripple, and the calm only disturbed every now and 
then by the roar of the minute-guns, which would 
reverberate and echo for a few seconds and remind 
one that the profession of him we mourned was that 
of arms; and then again that exquisite music would 
swell, touching the very chords of the heart, and 
saying to us (at least to me), ‘ There is a heaven open 
for the Christian warrior; he is passing from the din 
of war, from the turmoil of this life, to a new life, a 
new world, where there is no more death, no more 
war; ’ and who could help feeling that this solemn 
scene was typical of what had taken place ?” 

And the same eye-witness adds:—“We formed 


<f BEIIOLD, how they loved him.” 253 

in two lines after the boats with the bodies. All the 
marines and troops had fallen in, to receive and join 
the procession on shore. The pall-bearers were 
Major Casolet; Captain Dew, R.N.; Captain Bell, 
U.S. Navy; Captain Fabins, Dutch Navy; Captain 
Edgell, R.N.; Colonel Caine, Lieutenant-governor: 
one hundred marines and soldiers, with one hundred 
blue-jackets followed, and nearly the whole of the in¬ 
habitants of Hong-Kong.” 

<e The scene,” says another eye-witness, “ was 
painful and mournful to a degree; and the not un¬ 
manly tear of sorrow fell unrestrainable from the eye 
of not a few of whom it might be said, ‘ Behold, how 
they loved him! ’ The governor, and his many 
friends, followed the chief mourners in the solemn 
procession; whilst the road was lined with other 
civilians, who stood with uncovered heads while 
passed the mortal remains of e that heroic man, for 
whom all Hong-Kong mourns.’ ” 

On the following Sunday, in St. John’s Cathedral, 
the Bishop gave vent to the grief which was weighing 
on so many hearts. “ The loss which we have sus¬ 
tained,” he said, “is the loss of no common man. Pri¬ 
vate intercourse of the most confidential kind, during 
an intimate acquaintance of more than twelve years, 
revealed to me in no common measure the excellent 
qualities of the friend in whose death, not only the ser¬ 
vice, but the whole foreign community in China, have 
experienced a heavy calamity. It is a blessed solace, 
amid the more than ordinary mourning caused by this 


254 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN W. T. BATE, R.N. 


melancholy event, to be privileged to cherish no doubt 
as to that state of glorious immortality into which 
our departed friend has entered. He fell in the ser¬ 
vice of his Queen and country. He has been taken 
earlier to his reward. He has received from the 
King of kings the highest promotion which a glorified 
spirit can receive. He is now singing the new song 
in the courts of paradise. He is now with that 
Saviour whom he long served on earth. He has de¬ 
parted and is with Christ, which is far better.” 

Six months afterwards, a friend in Hong-Kong 
wrote: — <f I often visit his last resting-place—a 
quiet, peaceful spot, and there, recalling his words 
of tender counsel, pray that I may more closely 
follow in his footsteps.” 

About the same date, wrote another : —His . 
friends have made that quiet green mound a sweet 
spot, by surrounding it with the choicest and most 
delicate shrubs.” 

And another, in some simple lines, Ci dedicated 
to the ward-room officers of H. M. S. ‘Actseon,’ ” 
embalms his fragrant memory thus : 

“Busy, O Death,thou art! thou and the Brave 
Have formed a fast alliance. Forth from our midst, 

Daily some victim goes to thy embrace ; 

Whilst thou relentest not. 

Yet one — ah ! one — 

Loved for his honour and his Christian heart, 

The Hero, and the man — has gone to rest; 

Passed thro’ thy portals, Death, and smiled at thee, 

For he feared not thy terrors. 


FRAGRANT MEMORY. 


255 


Many a sailor on the pathless deep, 

Whene’er he nears the coast of treacherous shoals, 
Will bless the name and memory of him 
Whose toil and science charted out their track. 

Not on the couch where lingering sickness lies, 

Not by decay of old and honoured age, 

He passed to glory ; — but, in the duty-hour 
Where England’s chieftains are at all times found — 
Beneath the battlement — before the foe — 

There sighed he out a brave and glorious life.” 


♦ 


LONDON 

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO 
NEW-STREET SQUARE. 


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